A presale and new housing downturn in northern Taiwan is casting a long shadow as sales growth slows and supply mounts, the Chinese-language My Housing Monthly magazine said in a report yesterday.
Purchases of presale projects fell below NT$50 billion (US$1.68 billion) last month, although their number grew mildly from May, after the number of daily COVID-19 infections cases fell, the report said.
Fewer houses were completed last month, likely slowed by the virus outbreak, labor shortages and weakening sentiment, it said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
“People now assign more importance to rising inflationary pressures, interest rate hikes and negative wealth induced by the stock rout, now that concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic have subdued,” My Housing Monthly research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said in a statement.
“Rising supply and falling sales indicate selling pressures ahead when downside risks gain momentum,” he said.
Ho’s remarks came as the publication revealed its monthly climate monitor for the presale and new housing markets in northern Taiwan lost 2.1 points to 43.6 last month, the lowest this year.
While the sub-index on new presale projects edged up to 6.53 last month from 5.8 in May, reflecting improved confidence on the part of developers, the sub-index on sales dropped to 6.57 from 7.51, reflecting a downturn in purchasing interest, the magazine said.
Weekly transactions declined to two deals last month, from 2.5 deals in May, while reception sites served 25.5 teams of prospective buyers a week, compared with 25.6 teams one month earlier, it said.
The sub-index on price concessions widened slightly from 8.21 to 8.55, indicating that sellers were remaining firm about pricing, even though the macro-environment turned unfavorable, it said.
Spiking construction costs made developers unwilling to concede in the foreseeable future, Ho said.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
REGIONAL COMPETITION: Over the past few years the Philippines has lost ground to neighbors such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, a Philippine official said The Philippines is trying to enlist Taiwanese chip giants to expand in semiconductors, a bid to catch up with its neighbors who are emerging as significant suppliers in the industry. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) are among companies the Philippines is reaching out to as it seeks equipment and expertise to build out chip fabrication operations, said Dan Lachica, head of the Southeast Asian country’s main electronics industry group, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc (SEIPI). The association is working with Philippine officials in Taiwan to talk with potential
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98