Outstanding Home & Construction Loans Equal 50% of Taiwan's GDP in July
2014/09/05 | By Judy LiAs of the end of July Taiwan's outstanding home loans, construction loans, and home-improvement loans together reached NT$7.61 trillion (US$253.67 billion), accounting for 50.5% of the island's GDP, according to the Central Bank.
Although this percentage exceeded the international alert level of 40% for such loans, it was still lower than Singapore's 68% and the U.K.'s 80%. This means, according to the Central Bank, that Taiwan has little chance of developing a housing market bubble.
Home loans accounted for the lion's share of the total loans, with NT$5.7782 trillion (US$192.61 billion) outstanding. Construction loans accounted for NT$1.5702 trillion (US$52.34 billion), and home-improvement loans made up the remaining NT$260.8 billion (US$8.69 billion).
Outstanding home-purchase loans and construction loans both experienced a shrinkage in annual growth in July, with the former increasing by NT$21.6 billion (US$720 million) from a month earlier while its annual growth rate dropped to 4.82% and the latter rising by NT$2.8 billion (US$93.33 million) while its annual rate of growth shrank to 5.99%. (JL)