More than 20 domestic land developers attended a pre-sale briefing yesterday hosted by Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) for the mail-in auction of a 1,180 ping (3,901 square meter) plot in Taipei on July 25.
Some developers at the briefing said the floor price of NT$4.2 billion (US$138 million) for the residential parcel on Jianguo S Road near Da-an Forest Park was too pricey, while others said it was reasonable.
"We think the NT$4.2 billion starting price is fairly reasonable, but we're still evaluating the price range that we'd like to bid in," Robert Lo (羅孝先), special assistant to the chairman of Kee Tai Real Estate Co (基泰建設), told the Taipei Times yesterday.
APARTMENT PROJECT
Lo expressed interest in acquiring the land for 27-story complexes to house luxury apartments, which he said would need to sell at a minimum of NT$1.2 million per ping.
"This auction will be an important indicator of whether the city's luxury home market is still stable," he said.
The 27-story housing project would create a total of approximately 6,000 ping of living space and would cost at least NT$1.8 billion, or NT$300,000 per ping, to build, Lo said.
But Lo expressed concern over a neighboring plot of land similar in size, also owned by Shin Kong, which he said could pose a pricing challenge to prospective buyers. Kee Tai has no interest in the second plot, he said.
BONUS RIGHTS
Shin Kong Life, the nation's third-largest life insurer, told potential bidders yesterday that the winning bidder would also be awarded the rights to buy the neighboring 1,310 ping lot at a 5 percent premium of the first lot's closing price per ping.
That means that the second lot would cost at least NT$4.95 billion, or NT$3.78 million per ping.
※If the winning bidder declines to buy [the other plot], we'll organize another auction to liquidate the land,§ Shin Kong vice president Chen Shih-long (陳世龍) told yesterday's briefing.
BIDDING RULES
Bidders interested in the first lot must put down a deposit of NT$500 million and send applications and accompanying documents by registered mail to Shin Kong by 9am on July 25, the insurer said.
The auction will close at 10am that day and the winning bidder will be asked to sign a contract immediately or relinquish its winning rights.
On March 2, 2006, Shin Kong Life outbid other domestic land developers to acquire the residential-zone parcel of state-owned land for NT$3.37 billion.
If the deal closes at the minimum NT$4.2 billion, or NT$3.6 million per ping, it will represent a 32 percent increase on the NT$2.74 million per ping the insurer paid for it.
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