Willingness to buy property last month fell to its lowest level since September 2016, due to interest rate hikes and a downbeat economic outlook, a survey by Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) showed yesterday.
About 73 percent of 19,183 respondents said that now is not a favorable time to buy a new home, up from 70 percent a month earlier.
The survey was conducted in the first week of this month.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
“Consumers’ interest in buying property slid for five months in a row, from April to August, but registered a slight rise last month. However, it retreated this month, possibly because of a central bank rate hike of 12.5 basis points,” Cathay Financial said in a report.
The index of property purchase sentiment tallied minus-59.5 this month, indicating that the percentage of those who are not interested in buying a home was 59.5 percent higher than those who were interested, Cathay Financial said.
About 48 percent of those polled said it was also not a good time to sell property, up from 47 percent a month earlier, it said.
“The rate hikes seem to have affected both buyers and sellers,” Cathay Financial said.
Consumer confidence in Taiwan’s economy continued sliding this month, with 70 percent of respondents saying the economy was worse now than it was six months ago, and 58 percent excepting a slowdown over the next six months, the survey showed.
Survey respondents expected Taiwan’s economy to grow 2.65 percent this year, down from 2.74 percent a month earlier, the survey showed.
Meanwhile, 92 percent forecast Taiwan’s inflation rate to surpass 2 percent this year, among whom 66 percent predicted it would rise past 3 percent, the survey showed.
About 62 percent of respondents forecast their salary to remain unchanged over the next six months, flat from a month earlier, while 17 percent expected a raise, down from 19.5 percent a month earlier, it showed.
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