The home price index, which gauges fluctuations in residential property value in Taiwan, rose more than 2 percent from a quarter earlier in the third quarter of 2021 with Tainan posting the highest growth among the six largest cities in the country, according to the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).
Data compiled by the MOI showed the index for the entire Taiwan rose 2.15 percent from a quarter earlier to 114.83 in the July-September period. The third quarter figure even soared 7.43 percent from a year earlier.
It was the 13th consecutive quarter for the index to go higher.
Tainan, in southern Taiwan, saw the sub-index for the third quarter rising 3.06 percent from a quarter earlier and also increasing 11.34 percent from a year earlier. Its growth rate was the highest among the six municipalities in Taiwan: Taipei, New Taipei and Taoyuan in the north, Taichung in central Taiwan, and Tainan and Kaohsiung in the south.
Market analysts said Tainan’s property market got a boost largely from contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which has been investing in the city for its advanced 3 nanometer process development.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, has started production of chips made on the 3nm process on a trial basis, and mass production is scheduled to begin in 2022. Analysts said the investment has led many semiconductor professionals to move into Tainan, which pushed up demand for homes and property prices.
The MOI said most of the home transactions in Tainan largely took place in Yongkang, Eastern, West Central and Anping districts.
Tainan saw its home prices rising for 14th straight quarter in the third quarter.
The sub-index of home prices in Taipei, the largest city in Taiwan, rose 1.64 percent from a quarter earlier and 6.03 percent from a year earlier, while the sub-index in New Taipei, the most populous city in the country, also rose 1.84 percent from a quarter earlier and 5.46 percent from a year earlier.
Taoyuan saw home prices rising 2.56 percent from a quarter earlier and 8.14 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter, while Taichung’s home prices also rose 2.89 percent from a quarter earlier and 10.16 percent from a year earlier.
In addition, the home price sub-index in Kaohsiung rose 2.64 percent from a quarter and also grew 7.81 percent from a year earlier.
Commenting on the constant growth in home prices around Taiwan despite government efforts to stop property speculation, the MOI cited a robust economic recovery as one of the major factors, while adding that the current low interest environment and loose monetary policy adopted by the central bank also served as a driver to the uptrend.
To rein in high home prices, which has sparked an outcry among the young people who cannot afford to buy a home, the central bank has come up with the fourth round of credit control on the home market since December.
In the third quarter, home buyers around Taiwan shouldered a heavier financial burden, seeing a ratio of mortgages to disposable income rising by 0.63 percentage points from a quarter earlier to 36.90 percent on average, according to the MOI.
The ratio in Taipei rose 0.24 percentage points from a quarter earlier to 63.35 percent, the highest among the six largest cities in Taiwan, ahead of New Taipei’s 48.46 percent, Taichung’s 41.10 percent, Tainan’s 33.11 percent, Kaohsiung’s 31.22 percent, and Taoyuan’s 31.08 percent, the MOI said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel
