Several government-owned properties failed to sell at a public auction yesterday because of unrealistic pricing and a lack of market demand, pundits said yesterday.
In addition, three parcels of land located in the Hsinyi commercial district in eastern Taipei, failed to generate a single bid.
"No one placed bids on these three parcels, which are priced, on average, at around NT$2.5 million per ping," said Su Wei-chen (蘇維成), secretary general of the National Property Bureau, which is under the Ministry of Finance.
Out of a total of 10 properties, the three most costly parcels were priced at NT$9.5 billion for 3,617 ping, NT$6.2 billion for 2,264 ping and NT$3.8 billion for 1,926 ping.
The land -- located behind the Taipei City Hall and now designated for commercial use -- was agricultural land a few decades ago.
With the real-estate sector nearly stagnant, most developers are staying away from high-priced properties.
"Developers may still be wary about a property market recovery, fearing a low return on such high-priced land," Su said.
The bureau may soon advise the landowner -- the Ministry of National Defense -- to adopt a new auction model or, if possible, lower prices, he said.
In fact, these three parcels have been on auction several times before, with the price being lowered several times since the first offering in May 1999.
A property expert, however, shrugged off worries that the failure at yesterday's auction represented a setback to a possible rebound of the property market.
"Only a few conglomerates can afford to pay such a high prices, and they may not be interested in running department stores or other types of businesses that require a large amount of urban real estate," said Allen Hsu (
"Investors are interested in buying properties with a growth rate of 10 percent to 20 percent," Hsu said.
The auction did manage to sell off two pieces of state-own residential land in Taipei, netting the government NT$118.5 million.
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