Taiwanese hold a neutral view of the property market next quarter, as cautious sentiment lingers amid economic uncertainty, but housing prices have found support in inflation, an Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) survey released yesterday showed.
Almost 60 percent of respondents thought it would be unwise to join the market in the next six months, while nearly 40 percent said it would be better to wait until 2025, suggesting an extended slowdown in transactions, Evertrust research manager Daniel Chen (陳賜傑) said, citing the company’s quarterly survey.
Thirty-four percent said house prices would increase, while 31 percent expected price corrections, with high inflation believed to become a new norm, Chen said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Respondents were conservative even though 79 percent said that the recent introduction of favorable lending terms for first-home buyers was helpful in bolstering people’s interest in buying property, he said.
“People by-and-large need more time to digest economic signals at home and abroad,” Chen said, referring to poor exports, capital flight, monetary tightening in advanced economies and international oil price increases.
Evertrust general manager Yeh Ling-chi (葉凌棋) said that while it is difficult to make projections at this point, things could grow more fluid next quarter before Taiwan elects a new president and lawmakers in January.
“Political uncertainty always warrants caution,” Yeh said, adding that Evertrust Rehouse, Taiwan’s largest broker by number of offices, stood by its earlier forecast that housing deals this year would shrink 8 to 11 percent to 283,000 to 293,000 units, despite a better-than-expected third quarter.
A low base accounts for the improvement in comparison values this quarter, Yeh added.
House prices grew a moderate 2 to 4.9 percent in major cities this quarter, as the mentality that real estate is the best defense against inflation supported prices, he said.
Expectations of price declines have not been realized and some buyers decided not to stay on the sidelines any longer, Yeh added.
Of the survey’s respondents, 83 percent said they supported the government’s plan to raise house taxes for people who own multiple homes next year, but they were concerned that it would prompt landlords to pass their extra tax burden on to their tenants.
Small and open, Taiwan’s economy is vulnerable to external influences, and the US’ dim economic outlook for next year would inevitably weigh on Taiwan’s exports, the nation’s main growth driver, Yeh said.
That explains why the public is generally not confident that the nation’s economy will recover next quarter, he said.
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) and the company’s former chairman, Mark Liu (劉德音), both received the Robert N. Noyce Award -- the semiconductor industry’s highest honor -- in San Jose, California, on Thursday (local time). Speaking at the award event, Liu, who retired last year, expressed gratitude to his wife, his dissertation advisor at the University of California, Berkeley, his supervisors at AT&T Bell Laboratories -- where he worked on optical fiber communication systems before joining TSMC, TSMC partners, and industry colleagues. Liu said that working alongside TSMC
TECHNOLOGY DAY: The Taiwanese firm is also setting up a joint venture with Alphabet Inc on robots and plans to establish a firm in Japan to produce Model A EVs Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday announced a collaboration with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to build next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and strengthen its local supply chain in the US to accelerate the deployment of advanced AI systems. Building such an infrastructure in the US is crucial for strengthening local supply chains and supporting the US in maintaining its leading position in the AI domain, Hon Hai said in a statement. Through the collaboration, OpenAI would share its insights into emerging hardware needs in the AI industry with Hon Hai to support the company’s design and development work, as well
RSS