Tower crowned `king of the land'

The Shin Kong Tower in Taipei -- which is valued at NT$954,000 (US$28,629) per square meter -- was crowned "king of the land"by the Taipei City Land Department yesterday, the eighth time it has been declared the most expensive property in the city.

The completion of the world's tallest building, Taipei 101, boosted further development of the Xinyi shopping area, with the land price increasing 2.56 percent on average from about NT$780,000 per square meter to NT$800,000　per square meter this year.

"We expect that the Taipei 101 building's land price will continue to grow, but with the density of the land use around the area still falling behind that of the Shin Kong Tower and the Taipei Main Station area, whether the building will become the new king of the land depends on the area's future development," department commissioner Chi Tsung-chi (紀聰吉) told a press briefing.

The Pacific Sogo Department Store's Zhong Xiao store rounded out the top three in terms of value with its price of NT$850,000 per square meter.

The Neihu District (內湖) was ranked as the area which has experienced the highest price hike. The prosperity brought about by the Neihu Technology Park and other development around the area prompted the district's land price to rise 5.16 percent over the last year.

The Wenshan District (文山) and Songshan District (松山) were ranked second and third in terms of increasing value with price hikes of 4.22 and 4.13 percent respectively.

Chi said his department collects information from real estate agencies and land acquisition companies each year to calculate the city's average land price. Chi added that the department merely reports the current situation, rather than trying to influence the market.