The number of property transactions last month in the nation’s major cities increased 13.2 percent month-on-month, as developers wrapped up construction of presale houses to recognize profits and save on land taxes before the end of the year, a broker said.
Property deals totaled 21,017 units, with month-on-month increases across the six special municipalities of Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, local government data showed.
Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said it is common for developers to complete construction of presale houses ahead of the end of the year so that they can book earnings and save on land taxes.
Such intentions explained why presale deals picked up in all municipalities except Taipei, Evertrust Rehouse deputy research head Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said.
Compared with a year earlier, property transactions shrank 24 percent, with declines reaching double-digit percentages in all six municipalities, data showed.
Kaohsiung posted the largest retreat of 42 percent year-on-year, followed by Tainan’s 28 percent, New Taipei City’s 26 percent, Taipei’s 26 percent, Taoyuan’s 16 percent and Taichung’s 8 percent.
The boost to transaction numbers of capacity expansions by major local technology firms in southern Taiwan appears to have faded, judging from the data, Chen said, adding that economic uncertainty and interest rate increases were likely the main culprits.
For the whole of last year, transactions in the six special municipalities amounted to 244,173 units, an 8.8 percent fall from 2021.
Taichung bucked the downtrend with a 2 percent increase, thanks to improving infrastructure, especially the mass rapid transit system, Chen said.
Transfers in Tainan ranked the third-highest in nine years, Chen added, as people grew increasingly receptive to living in southern Taiwan.
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging population. The foundation said it would invest S$4.91 million (US$3.8 million) over three years to foster inclusion and resilience in an aging society. “Aging may bring challenges, but it also brings opportunities. With many Asian markets rapidly becoming super-aged, the DBS Foundation is working with a regional ecosystem of like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, has greatly exceeded what it can supply. A significant portion of the budget, about US$1 billion, would be earmarked for fan-out PLP technology, Powertech told investors yesterday. Its heavy investment in fan-out PLP technology over the past 10 years is expected to bear fruit in 2027 after the technology enters volume production, it said, adding that the tech would
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has secured three construction permits for its plan to build a state-of-the-art A14 wafer fab in Taichung, and is likely to start construction soon, the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, Wang Chun-chieh (王俊傑), deputy director general of the science park bureau, said the world’s largest contract chipmaker has received three construction permits — one to build a fab to roll out sophisticated chips, another to build a central utility plant to provide water and electricity for the facility and the other to build three office buildings. With the three permits, TSMC
YEAR-END BOOST: The holiday shopping season in the US and Europe, combined with rising demand for AI applications, is expected to drive exports to a new high, the NDC said Taiwan’s business climate monitor improved last month, transitioning from steady growth for the first time in five months, as robust global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and new iPhone shipments boosted exports and corporate sales, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. The council uses a five-color system to measure the nation’s economic state, with “green” indicating steady growth, “red” suggesting a boom and “blue” reflecting a recession. “Yellow-red” and “yellow-blue” suggest a transition to a stronger or weaker condition. The total score of the monitor’s composite index rose to 35 points from a revised 31 in August, ending a four-month