Presale and newly completed house prices last quarter picked up 18.1 percent on average in northern Taiwan, but the uptrend might come to an end next year if sales continue to stall, property researcher My Housing Monthly said in a report.
“This segment of the property market has seen a tumultuous year, but has held firm so far, despite unfavorable twists sprouting almost every month,” the Chinese-language publication’s research chief Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said, referring to interest rate hikes, punitive taxes on short-term property trading, selective credit controls and bans on preorder transfers.
Building material price hikes, labor shortages and a lack of selling pressure have prompted developers to adopt a bold pricing strategy, but a turnabout might be inevitable if sales rates disappoint for an extended period, Ho said, citing a noticeable gain in housing supply in the second half of the year.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Presale housing projects in Taipei averaged NT$1.06 million (US$33,246) per ping (3.3m2) during the July-to-September period, up 4.2 percent from three months earlier and 12.7 percent from a year earlier, the publication’s report showed.
The price hikes in the capital were broad-based, with presale projects in second-tier Wanhua District (萬華) for the first time commanding more than NT$1 million per ping and more than NT$700,000 per ping in Wenshan District (文山), Ho said.
Neighboring New Taipei City saw presale projects climbing 3.1 percent sequentially and 10.4 percent from a year earlier to a new peak of NT$460,000 per ping, Ho said, adding that presale prices have made records for the past four straight quarters.
Developers now demand more than NT$600,000 per ping for projects in Jhonghe (中和), making it the second-most expensive administrative district in New Taipei City after Yonghe (永和) and ahead of Banciao (板橋), Ho said.
Developers in Taoyuan assigned more importance to affordability in hopes of facilitating deals and therefore priced projects at NT$309,000 per ping, a mild 2 percent increase from the previous quarter, but a 19.8 percent spike from a year earlier, it said.
Presale projects in Hsinchu averaged NT$357,000 per ping, growing 7.9 percent from three months earlier and surging 44.5 percent from a year earlier, as its proximity to the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) attracted buying interest, it said.
It would be impossible for housing prices to rise forever and ongoing economic uncertainty might slow the upturn this quarter, triggering a price correction next year amid tepid sales, Ho said.
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
RSS