Print

Mail

wiki links

Property market to stay hot: developers

The nation's already hot property market will continue to expand this year on the launch of the high-speed railway, the anticipated opening up to Chinese tourism, as well as incentives to be offered by the government for next year's presidential election.

"This year will be key for the [real estate] industry," Mu Chun-sung (穆椿松), chairman of the Taiwan Construction Development Federation (台灣建築開發聯合會), said at a press conference yesterday.

Mu said that property prices started to edge up after SARS scare in 2003 -- when the prices of some houses and apartments tumbled by 50 percent -- and reached a high last year.

The uptrend will continue this year he said.

The highest-priced apartments in Taipei City, for example, cost about NT$1.3 million (US$39,500) per ping (3.3m2). Compared with the price of the most expensive properties in Hong Kong of NT$5.6 million per ping, the Taiwanese market still has room for growth, Mu said.

Another factor pushing prices higher is the soaring cost of raw materials, given the huge demand from emerging markets such as China and India, which have tightened supply, Mu said.

The best-selling residential buildings are top-grade luxurious apartments measuring more than 80 pings each, the federation's statistics showed.

Mu said that the demand for high-quality and luxury housing has been rising among Taiwan's top 20 percent highest income earners, as the nation marches toward becoming a so-called "M-shaped society" -- where the income curve has two peaks, one in the lower middle class, and one in the highest income bracket, a trend noticeable in many industrial societies.

He warned that a shrinking middle class would mean that more people would find it harder to buy a home, which poses a problem that the government and constructors should address.

As for the commercial property market, the lifting of restrictions on Chinese tourists would boost Taiwan's retail service sector, which could add NT$200 billion to the real estate business as retailers scramble for storefronts, Mu said.

The launch of the high-speed railway has made properties in central and southern Taiwan more attractive, both residential and commercial, said Lin Ching-hua (林清華), of the Real Estate Development Association of Tainan (台南市建築開發公會).

Rapid transportation, lower prices and a perceived higher quality of life have lured some China-based Taiwanese businesspeople to buy homes there, Lin said.

Low rental costs have also attracted many franchisees from the northern part of the country to expand their businesses to the south, making storefronts in downtown areas the hottest products, he said.
This story has been viewed 1383 times.