Property transactions in the six special municipalities last quarter plunged 24.1 percent from a year earlier to 49,290 units, dragged by weak sentiment, although buying interest last month showed a noticeable improvement.
It was the lowest volume since 2018 as a series of interest rate hikes and unfavorable policy measures cast a shadow on the market.
“The ban on transfers of presale house purchase agreements and monetary tightening sidelined prospective buyers looking for bargains,” Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) head researcher Mandy Lang (郎美囡) said on Thursday.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
PRICING INFLEXIBILITY
However, expectations that prices would fall have yet to materialize, as sellers held firm, buoyed by a government pledge that the upcoming ban would not affect existing deals.
Weighed by economic uncertainty and pricing concerns, transaction during the January-to-March period fell 28 percent to 5,677 units in Taipei, slumped 25 percent to 12,521 units in New Taipei City and dropped 27.8 percent to 8,190 units in Taoyuan, government data showed.
Deals declined 23 percent to 9,870 units in Taichung, decreased 19 percent to 4,932 units in Tainan and fell 22 percent to 8,025 units in Kaohsiung.
Sellers would rather hold onto their properties than accept what they deem as unreasonable or humiliating offers, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) research head Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨) said.
Pricing inflexibility accounted in part for the absence of panic selling — unlike in 2016 before the introduction of combined property taxes that drove investors to cut prices and exit the market, Hsu said.
MARCH PICKUP
The gloomy sentiment eased somewhat last month, with transactions in the six special municipalities standing at 20,860 units, down 17.4 percent year-on-year, but up 31.9 percent from February, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said.
Pent-up real demand underpinned the pickup after price corrections failed to materialize, Sinyi research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾進德) said.
More working days and the completion of new residential projects also lent support to last month’s data, Tseng said.
Developers wrapped up construction of presale housing complexes in Taoyuan’s Gueishan District (龜山) and Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) said.
Transactions are likely to stay soft in line with an economic slowdown, but the room for price corrections is limited given higher building material costs, the broker said.
NEW MARKET: The partnership opens up India to the Dutch company, which already has a strong hold in the semiconductor market of South Korea, Taiwan and China ASML Holding NV entered into a partnership agreement with Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd aimed at ramping up India’s goal to develop domestic chip-manufacturing capabilities. The Dutch company’s technology would help power Tata Electronics’ planned 300 millimeter (mm) semiconductor foundry in Gujarat, according to a joint statement from the two companies on Saturday. The signing of a memorandum of understanding coincides with a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Netherlands, which is looking to deepen bilateral relations with New Delhi. ASML, whose top customers include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co, makes lithography machines that can print
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
TECH RELIANCE: Growth is increasingly reflecting an unequal K-shaped distribution, where technology sectors outperform and other industries struggle, an expert said Standard Chartered Bank has significantly raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth to 9.5 percent this year, up from 7.6 percent previously, citing surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand driving exports, semiconductor production and investment. The upgrade reflects a sustained AI supercycle that continues to fuel demand for advanced chips and technology infrastructure, which form the backbone of Taiwan’s exports, the bank said in a report this week. “We raise our 2026 growth forecast to reflect a much stronger-than-expected first-quarter GDP figure,” Standard Chartered senior economist for greater China and Asia Tommy Wu (胡東安) said in the report. Driven largely by a 35.3 percent
Two of Taiwan’s international carriers, Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), have retained the five-star airline rating awarded by international airline review organization Skytrax. Starlux was awarded the distinction for a second consecutive year, while EVA Air received it for the 11th straight year, Skytrax said in statements released yesterday and on Thursday last week, respectively. The five-star rating is considered one of the airline industry's highest honors and is awarded following professional audits of airline product and frontline service standards, Skytrax said. The ratings are based on in-depth assessments using unified global quality standards rather than customer review scores
RSS