Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) yesterday said that his comments last week on the nation’s real-estate industry were taken out of context to make it appear that he was encouraging the practice of property flipping.
Hsu on Tuesday last week reportedly told participants at an award ceremony for outstanding real-estate agents that the real-estate industry is like a shield for Taiwan and a locomotive for the domestic economy.
“The context of my speech was that we need to ensure the stability of the real-estate market and prevent it from soaring or plummeting,” Hsu said yesterday on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
“However, regrettably, some only focused on the part about the real-estate market being a locomotive for the domestic economy, and deliberately took that statement out of context,” he said.
Hsu said the Ministry of the Interior has spared no effort in cracking down on property flippers, adding that he does not need to change his statement.
Instead, people should focus on what he said about the importance of maintaining the stability of the real-estate market, he said.
Photo: CNA
The ministry was separately accused of “shelling out money” to Taitung County residents by offering subsidies of NT$500,000 per household to help people whose homes or farmhouses were damaged by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake on Sept. 18.
“The government is offering subsidies so that residents whose homes have sustained damage can resume a normal life. They did not profit from the subsidies,” he said, adding that people should stop using political language to misinterpret the government’s good intentions.
New Power Party (NPP) Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said Hsu’s real-estate remarks conflicted with President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) campaign promise of achieving housing justice.
“Many young Taiwanese are suffocating because of high housing prices. Rather than addressing the problem, the ministry under Hsu’s leadership is praising the real-estate industry,” Chen said.
Although the ministry’s proposed amendments to the Equalization of Land Rights Act (平均地權條例) have already been submitted to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation, the Democratic Progressive Party and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucuses have told reporters that the bill should not be reviewed at this legislative session, Chen said.
Citing government data, NPP Taipei city councilor candidate Jerry Liu (劉仕傑) said that Taiwanese workers’ salaries have grown by an average of 13 percent in the past 10 years, while housing prices have surged 40 percent over the period.
“This shows the difficulty for a salaried employee to buy a house in Taiwan. Rising housing prices are eroding Taiwan’s economy and the situation will only deteriorate if nothing is done about it,” he said.
NPP Taipei city councilor candidate Chen Chih-ming (陳志明) asked Hsu whether he stands for housing justice.
Chen said that Taiwan’s housing price-to-income ratio climbed to 9.69 in the second quarter of this year, citing data released by the ministry on Sunday.
In Taipei, the ratio was 16.17, which means that city residents cannot afford to buy a house even if they do not eat or drink and save all their earnings for 16 years, he said, adding that the data on mortgage burden rates showed that the average household in Taipei spends about 66 percent of its disposable income on mortgage payments.
GENSLER SURVEY: ‘Economic infrastructure is not enough. A city needs to inspire pride, offer moments of joy and foster a sense of belonging,’ the company said Taipei was named the city with the “highest staying power” in the world by US-based design and architecture firm Gensler. The Taiwanese capital earned the top spot among 65 cities across six continents with 64 percent of Taipei respondents in a survey of 33,000 people saying they wanted to stay in the city. Rounding out the top five were Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (61 percent), Singapore (59 percent), Sydney (58 percent) and Berlin (51 percent). Sixth to 10th place went to Monterrey, Mexico; Munich, Germany; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Vancouver; and Seoul. Cities in the US were ranked separately, with Minneapolis first at
The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association has cautioned Japanese travelers to be vigilant against pickpockets at several popular tourist spots in Taiwan, including Taipei’s night markets, the Yongkang Street area, Zhongshan MRT Station, and Jiufen (九份) in New Taipei City. The advisory, titled “Recent Development of Concerns,” was posted on the association’s Web site under its safety and emergency report section. It urges travelers to keep backpacks fully zipped and carried in front, with valuables placed at the bottom of the bag. Visitors are advised to be especially mindful of their belongings when taking photos or speaking on the phone, avoid storing wallets and
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
RSS