Property transfers totaled about 15,919 units across the six special municipalities last month, down 6.3 percent from a month earlier and 19.7 percent from a year earlier, data compiled by local land administrations showed on Monday.
The figure marked the third-lowest monthly tally this year, with transactions supported mainly by genuine demand as restrictive mortgage terms continued to sideline investors, real-estate brokers said.
Among the six municipalities, transfers fell 11.7 percent year-on-year to 1,977 units in Taipei, dropped 12.7 percent to 4,427 in New Taipei City and slumped 24.4 percent to 3,906 in Taoyuan. They also plunged 20 percent to 4,391 in Taichung, declined 16.9 percent to 1,906 in Tainan and tumbled 29.8 percent to 3,217 in Kaohsiung, the data showed.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Sentiment among first-time buyers and upgraders has improved modestly on the back of the limited loosening of credit rules and the traditional fourth-quarter sales peak, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said on Monday.
The Financial Supervisory Commission in September exempted first-home buyers and relocators from central bank lending restrictions designed to curb real-estate credit growth.
However, slower new-home handovers offset a mild pickup in existing-home transactions, Evertrust deputy research head Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said.
With expectations of price corrections deepening, buyers hold the upper hand, she said.
Last month’s figures also indicate that the market is showing early signs of stabilizing, as the pace of annual decline narrowed, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) said.
Transfers in the first 11 months of this year reached 184,704 units in the six major municipalities, a 26.1 percent drop from a year earlier, the data showed.
“This year’s slump has been unusually sharp and such dramatic swings are rare without major non-market intervention,” Sinyi chief researcher Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said, adding that a full-year tally of about 260,000 units would make this year the weakest in eight years.
The narrowing month-on-month decline is a positive sign, Tseng said, adding that next year’s outlook appears more constructive amid improving economic sentiment and expectations of steady liquidity.
However, areas that have experienced steep price gains could stay under correction pressure as buyers become more cautious, he said.
The central bank is scheduled to hold its quarterly board meeting on Dec. 18. It is expected to review property-lending rules at the meeting, and evaluate whether current curbs adequately address banks’ growing exposure to real estate and are helping to prevent a housing bubble.
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
Taiwan should increase its geothermal development investment, as its stable output could complement the nation’s fast-growing solar and wind power capacity, an international consultant said last week. COWI A/S Asia-Pacific business development director Vun Pui-lee (溫沛理) at an event hosted by the Trade Council of Denmark, Taipei said that geothermal systems offer consistent heat flow and round-the-clock generation. “The output of geothermal power is like natural gas; the volume of hot water you have and its temperature are both stable and constant,” he said. Such steadiness could enhance Taiwan’s energy resilience during geopolitical uncertainty, he added. “A liquefied natural gas terminal might not be
RSS