The Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) announced yesterday that it would put 13 pieces of land up for auction to take advantage of the boom in the real estate market, fueled by expectations that the government will agree to allow Chinese investors to buy property in Taiwan, the Chinese-language United Evening News reported.
The Bank of Taiwan’s announcement came a day after Ming Sheng Financial Center (民生金融大樓) in Taipei was sold to Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), a local subsidiary of AIG, for NT$8.2 billion (US$ 251.07 million), up by NT$1.2 billion from the floor price of NT$7 billion set at the end of October last year, the report said.
FIRST THIS YEAR
The auction of the 13 pieces of Taipei City and Kaohsiung City land will be the Bank of Taiwan’s first this year.
A 203m² piece of land located near Nanhai Road and Ningbo West Street in Taipei has a floor price of NT$93.4 million, or around NT$1.4 million per ping, which is close to market price.
The bank’s largest piece of land for sale will be a parcel located in Kaohsiung City’s Lingya District (苓雅區), with an area of 911m² and a floor price of NT$139 million.
MUST SELL
According to the Banking Act (銀行法 ), the Bank of Taiwan said its non-residential land cannot exceed 20 percent of its net value after it merged with the Central Trust of China (中央信託局) in July, 2007.
Against this backdrop, the bank has no choice but to auction its excess land.
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