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.
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
RSS