Amid declining vacancy rates, rentals in Taipei's commercial property market have stopped bleeding, real-estate experts said yesterday.
"The expected property recovery has to be bolstered by the commercial property market. Otherwise, it'll be a crippled recovery," said Billy Yen (顏炳立), general manager of DTZ Debenham Tie Leung International Property Advisers (戴德梁行), yesterday at a seminar to discuss the market.
Taking an upbeat view, Yen said that the market's buying activities are on the rise while more office-building tenants are making investments in office properties for their own use, which diminishes the room for negotiation on rentals.
Among the city's five grade-A office districts, the Xinyi district remains the most popular destination even though there is no evidence of an increase in rentals.
A solid recovery in the local commercial property market will ensure the rental success of 60,000-ping in Taipei 101 office space, slated to be released at the year's end, Yen added, estimating that monthly rentals in the world's tallest building should be around NT$2,200 per ping.
Refusing to respond to Yen's speculation, Cathy Yang (楊文琪), an assistant vice president at Taipei Financial Center Corp, said yesterday that the company will come up with package prices for the building's office space, part of which will be absorbed by shareholders.
Yang said that she was optimistic that once Chinese capitalists are allowed to enter the local market as cross-strait economic relations improve, office space in the building will prove popular. She said the building will cater to the needs of financial institutions and other high-end enterprises.
Yen, however, sounded more pessimistic.
"Chinese businesses are unlikely to place investments in Taiwan," he said.
"No Chinese is likely to buy properties in Taiwan," Yen said. "On the contrary, Taiwanese will rush to buy properties in Shanghai once direct links are implemented."
But Chuang Meng-han (莊孟瀚), an industrial economics professor at Tamkang University, expressed caution yesterday, saying the risks of buying property in China remain high since regulatory constraints may spell trouble for investors counting on high capital gains.
DTZ Debenham Tie Leung released a survey yesterday that indicated investors have adopted a wait-and-see attitude since the presidential election. The survey was conducted between March 20 and April 20, according to Cynthia Chu (
The survey found that 36 percent of respondents said they had investment plans before the election. That number dropped to 29 percent after the election.
Over 70 percent of respondents said the disputes over the election will have a negative impact on the property market, although it would be a short-term effect.
The service industry also surpassed manufacturing and construction for the first time in expressing interest in making investments in property.
RSS