Taoyuan Nights

So, on the one hand, the local media and government is saying ‘Don’t Worry! Be Happy!’, and claiming ‘the banks have lots of spare capital and are unaffected by America and Europe’.
Actions, however, speak louder than words.
Action 1: They are pouring taxpayer money into the stockmarket to stop it sinking so fast.
Action 2: They are […]

This is one of the most exciting days of finance I’ve had this decade!
113 ETF funds collapsed.
The Russian stockmarket is down 17% and trading was halted.
Markets all across Asia were down 5-7% even from the start.
The Shanghai stockmarket is now down 66% since October last year.
HBOS (biggest home loans bank […]

This alleged Chapter 11 filing by the recently collapsed Lehman Brothers, seems to suggest that Bank of Taiwan and Taipei Fubon might possibly be on the hook for $35 million US as creditors.
Lehman Brothers seems to have collapsed as a result of its exposure to the mortgage backed securities market (which has ‘imploded’ over […]

Are you Taiwanese? Are you slightly shocked by the heading of this post? If you are, then keep that shock in mind, and keep reading.
My Taiwanese friends often find it very strange that I go outside to enjoy typhoon weather, wearing little more than jeans and a T-shirt. They have this impression that typhoons […]

News just in: Taiwanese inflation hits 6% (officially, of course - in the real world outside of politics, it’s far worse). Higher inflation means that lenders require higher interest rates to compensate them for the devaluation of the money they are lending - or they simply don’t lend. And higher interest rates mean… more problems […]

Someone once said, history never repeats, but it does rhyme.
Here is what happened in Tokyo and Hong Kong when their property prices zoomed in the way that Taipei’s have. I believe that in ‘house-price-relative-to-earnings’ terms, Taipei has recently exceeded the heights of these graphs.
So, dear reader, I show you a possible - indeed, […]

Let’s first take a look at the Taiwanese Government’s website about investing in Taiwan.
“Taiwan’s housing prices will rise 5-10% annually through 2010 at least, according to construction company and real estate brokerage executives speaking at a “real estate summit meeting” sponsored by the Taiwanese real estate magazine Zhu Zhan in early November. Some even […]

Scott Sommers has trapped Taiwan’s bloggers on his blog. Now, it’s up to you to rescue them. Bravely find them on the page using your mouse, then lead the bloggers of Taiwan to freedom via the Escape Zone!

Click here to begin!

(Apologies, Scott… it was too tempting)

The Taipei Times refers to housing troubles in the north of Taiwan…
Finally, it seems like we’re there. The number of house sales is continuing to collapse (minus 15% taipei, minus 30% taichung in just one month) at what should be one of the best times of year for sales in most cultures. In other words, […]

My mum came to Taiwan for 2 weeks recently to visit me and see a little of the island.
She had a great time - all my friends were really nice to her, and helped me to show her some cool places. I saw a few new places myself, too..

Mum, Leila, Ethan, and their children, shopping […]