Housing transactions in the six special municipalities totaled 26,833 units last month, up 25.6 percent from a year earlier and 17.1 percent higher than in April, as an economic recovery and the government’s property interest rate subsidy underpinned the pickup across Taiwan, real-estate brokers said on Monday.
The volume is the highest since January 2022, with all six municipalities reporting increases of double-digit percentages, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research head Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said, attributing the strong showing to Taiwan’s economic recovery and delivery of presale house projects by developers.
The government’s business climate monitor in April flashed “yellow-red” for the first time in two years, thanks to robust industrial production, imports of machinery equipment, private consumption and local share prices, the National Development Council said last week.
Photo courtesy of Evertrust Rehouse Co
The pace of recovery is expected to gain better momentum going forward, with the high season for technology products approaching, major tech firms said.
Housing deals in Kaohsiung and Tainan reported the fastest annual growth of 47.3 percent and 45.6 percent to 5,194 and 2,843 units respectively, local government data showed.
Tainan and Kaohsiung have become more appealing due to their relative housing affordability and a sharp rise in job opportunities due to the expansion of major tech firms, Chen said.
Taichung also fared well with a 21.4 percent annual increase in home deals to 4,918 units, as improving transport and other infrastructure drew people to buy homes in central Taiwan, she said.
Housing deals surged 19.3 percent year-on-year to 6,636 units in New Taipei City and expanded 16.2 percent to 2,966 units in Taipei, while transactions in Taoyuan rose 14.8 percent to 4,276 units, data from respective administrations showed.
H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) chief researcher Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨) said the government’s interest subsidy for first-time home buyers continued to play an important role in shoring up transactions.
However, Hsu expressed concern that the central bank, which is due to review its monetary policy on Thursday next week, may introduce fresh measures to tighten lending terms if housing transactions and prices continue to gather traction.
The central bank reportedly met with housing brokers and bankers to gain a better understanding of the property market and mortgage operations.
The interest rate subsidy for first-home purchases and other favorable lending terms have come under criticism for negating credit controls and other tightening measures intended to cool the local property boom.
Total transactions in the six special municipalities during the first five months of this year increased 30 percent year-on-year to 112,630 units, the highest for the same period over the past 11 years, data showed.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new