Housing transactions in the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year fell 23.6 percent year-on-year to 48,035 units, the lowest level for the same period in eight years, data released by local government agencies on Tuesday showed.
Market watchers said the central bank’s selective credit control measures and a lingering cautious sentiment about the housing market contributed to the annual decrease in transactions.
“Although the policy factor still matters, stock market fluctuations and uncertainties about the international situation would also have an impact on the market in the short term,” Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said in a commentary.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Based on data compiled from the six local governments’ Web sites, housing transactions in Taipei decreased 19.9 percent year-on-year to 5,856 units in the January-to-March period, and those in New Taipei City fell 32.5 percent to 10,183 units.
Transactions in Taoyuan dropped 16.3 percent to 9,265 units and those in Taichung slid 13.1 percent to 10,543 units. Tainan reported a decline of 39 percent to 4,188 units, the lowest in nine years, while Kaohsiung’s transactions fell 23.3 percent to 8,000 units, the lowest in eight years, the data showed.
Last month alone, aggregate transactions in the six special municipalities decreased 21.1 percent year-on-year to 18,211 units; only Taichung posted an annual increase of 2.5 percent, while the other five cities recorded double-digit percentage declines from a year earlier, the data showed.
Cushman & Wakefield Taiwan managing director Billy Yen (顏炳立) said the latest data showed that the local property market remained in the doldrums, with transactions shrinking and prices continuing to consolidate moderately, as many homebuyers remained cautious amid rising risks.
“The local housing market is likely to sleepwalk throughout this year, given the two major challenges ahead: changes in the global economy and the government’s continued control over funds,” cable TV station USTV quoted Yen as saying at a news conference in Taipei on Tuesday.
Based on the latest data from the six major cities, total housing transactions in Taiwan in the first quarter would be about 63,000 units, representing an annual decrease of about 20 percent, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research head Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said in a note.
“Whether transactions could recover in the second quarter — especially the scale and speed of price correction — remains to be seen,” Chen said.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce