The nation’s five major state-run banks extended NT$121.739 billion (US$3.80 billion) in new mortgages last month, the highest amount on record and surpassing the NT$100 billion mark for the third consecutive month, central bank data released yesterday showed.
Total new mortgages extended by the Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) last month increased by NT$20.518 billion, or 20.27 percent, from NT$101.221 billion the previous month, central bank data showed.
The monthly increase in new mortgages came as most home buyers tend to strike deals ahead of Ghost Month on the lunar calendar, which began on Aug. 4, resulting in a significant increase in property transactions and housing loans last month, the central bank said.
Photo: CNA
Housing transactions in the six special municipalities last month totaled 26,555 units, a 33.6 percent increase from a year earlier and marking the highest July figure since 2014, data released by local governments earlier this month showed.
In addition, the average mortgage rate charged by the five state-run banks rose 0.003 basis points to 2.187 percent last month from 2.184 percent the previous month, mainly because some banks raised rates for non-first-time home buyers, the central bank said.
The data also showed that preferential loans for first-home buyers under a government program contributed 38.23 percent of the total new mortgages last month, down 2.69 basis points from the previous month, despite that the amount increased from NT$41.42 billion to NT$46.54 billion.
The program has more flexible conditions for loan applications, offers favorable lending terms and sets a lower barrier for young people than a previous similar scheme.
However, it has also drawn wide criticism for rekindling a hot housing market in Taiwan this year.
During the first seven months of this year, the five state-run banks extended NT$672.99 billion of new mortgages, a record for the period and up 84.34 percent from NT$365.08 billion a year earlier, the data showed.
The latest data came after the central bank on Wednesday announced that domestic lenders must come up with self-disciplinary measures by Sept. 6 to limit mortgage operations and prevent an overconcentration of real-estate loans.
It is part of the monetary policymaker’s efforts to cool the housing market after it introduced a new round of credit-control measures last month, as well as hiked lenders’ required reserve ratio by 25 basis points and tightened second-home mortgage terms in June.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance and state-run lenders have also taken actions recently to crack down on abuses of the favorable loan terms intended for first-time home buyers and self-occupancy.
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
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
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
RSS