Transactions of residential and commercial property in Taiwan’s six special municipalities hit an 11-year high last year, driven by strong demand in the first six months, local government data showed.
Significant demand from January to June offset the effects of the seventh round of selective credit controls launched in the second half by the central bank to limit mortgage eligibility, the data showed.
Transactions of homes, shops, offices and factories in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 271,309 units, up 14.7 percent from a year earlier and an 11-year high, the data showed.
Photo: CNA
Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨), research head of property agency H&B Realty Co (住商不動產), said that the credit controls in September affected the local home market.
However, government subsidies for home buyers pushed up property sales in the first half, which helped offset the effect of the central bank’s intervention, Hsu said.
All of the special municipalities reported a year-on-year increase in sales of homes, shops, offices and factories, the data showed.
Residential and commercial property sales last year in Taipei, the most closely watched property market in Taiwan, rose 12.0 percent from a year earlier to 29,930 units, while sales in New Taipei City, the most populous city in the country, rose 6.9 percent to 64,169 units, the data showed.
In Taoyuan, property transactions totaled 49,189 units, up 20.8 percent from a year earlier, while sales in Taichung rose 15.3 percent to 54,996 units, they showed.
Tainan’s property sales grew 11.4 percent from a year earlier to 27,783 units, while sales in Kaohsiung rose 24.8 percent to 45,242 units, they showed.
Sales in Tainan hit a historical high, while transactions in Taichung and Kaohsiung were the highest in 17 and 18 years respectively, said Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍), a research manager at Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶集團).
Property sales in the six municipalities last month alone totaled 21,445 units, up 8.2 percent from a month earlier, but down 9.7 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
Charlene Chang (張旭嵐), a section chief at Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋), said that the spike last month was due to some home buyers wanting to move into a new house before the Lunar New Year.
Moderating economic growth made some home sellers more willing to cut prices, Chang added.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS