Yahoo sees local home decorating boom amidst slump

Average weekly page views at Yahoo’s Taiwan House search-engine climbed 43 percent this quarter from a year ago, Huang Minyi, a Yahoo Taiwan spokeswoman, said yesterday. “Home decoration” is the second most-popular search term on Yahoo’s Taiwan Web site in 2008, behind “bicycles,” Yahoo said in a Dec. 2 statement.

“Because of the economic decline, everyone is using their money more carefully,” Huang said in an interview. “People can’t change their house, but they can change the look and format of their home.” Views in the home-decorating category more than doubled from a year ago, she said, declining to give user numbers.

Taiwan home prices fell for an eighth consecutive month in November, dropping 4.7 percent from October, Sinyi Realty Co. said Dec. 1. Hopes President Ma Ying-jeou’s election would boost growth ended with the global financial crisis. Taiwan will likely enter a recession this quarter, the government said last month.

The third-most popular search term on Yahoo Taiwan was “court auctions,” referring to a way repossessed homes are sold, usually at a discount to their market value, according to Yahoo’s Dec. 2 statement.

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