Presale and new housing prices last quarter climbed 6.01 percent to NT$458,600 (US$15,323) per ping (3.3m2), although transactions slumped 29.71 percent as COVID-19 infections and interest rate hikes fueled caution on the part of developers and buyers, a survey by Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) showed on Wednesday.
Developers and builders released 187 projects offering 16,473 new housing units that could generate NT$290.8 billion in sales, a 23.9 percent fall from the first quarter, on the central bank’s liquidity tightening policy and expectations that buying interest would weaken amid spiking COVID-19 infections, Cathay said.
However, asking prices rose in the municipalities of Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, and in Hsinchu county and city, with New Taipei City seeing a fractional 0.11 percent decline to NT$496,700 per ping, it said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Taoyuan reported the steepest price advance of 16.35 percent to NT$385,000 per ping as soaring building material prices and relative affordability provided developers with enough comfort to adopt a bold pricing strategy, Cathay said.
New housing prices gained 11.17 percent to NT$409,500 per ping in Hsinchu County and increased 8.98 percent to NT$422,200 per ping in Taichung, it said.
Prices grew 5.39 percent to NT$284,600 per ping in Tainan and scaled up 5.28 percent to NT$305,100 in Kaohsiung, it added.
The gauge on price concessions widened mildly by 1.21 percentage points to 8.93 percent, indicating the supply side generally refused to budge despite heightening economic headwinds, Cathay said.
The property market is likely to enter a consolidation phase, with room for price gains squeezed by inflation, interest rate hikes, unfavorable lending terms and ongoing COVID-19 infections, it said.
November’s elections of local administrators could also drive buyers to the sidelines amid political uncertainty, considering that candidates tend to pledge measures to mitigate housing unaffordability while campaigning, it said.
Separately, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) on Tuesday reported that net income fell 36.11 percent year-on-year to NT$313 million last quarter, as a COVID-19 outbreak and interest rate hikes dampened buying interest.
Earnings per share were NT$0.43 last quarter, compared with NT$0.67 a year earlier, when a level 3 COVID-19 alert kept people at home, Sinyi said, adding that for the first half of this year, net income decreased 16.77 percent year-on-year to NT$791 million, or earnings per share of NT$1.07.
Significant housing price gains across Taiwan and the central bank’s monetary tightening have made people more cautious this year, Sinyi said, adding that the central bank has asked people to be careful about financial leveraging.
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Japan approved ￥631.5 billion (US$3.97 billion) in additional subsidies to hasten Rapidus Corp’s entry into the high-stakes artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaking arena, ramping up support for a project widely regarded as a long shot. The capital is intended to bankroll Rapidus’ work for information technology firm Fujitsu Ltd, one of the initial customers that Tokyo hopes would get the signature endeavor off the ground. The new money raises the fees and investments that the government is injecting into the start-up to ￥2.6 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year to March next year, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and
RSS