The value of storefronts along Zhongxiao E Road Sec 4 — one of the busiest shopping districts in Taipei City, has more than doubled in the past six years to an average that ranged between NT$4 million (US$123,935) and NT$5.5 illion per ping (3.3m²) last month, a recent survey found.
“Storefronts there now are the most expensive among similar properties anywhere in the country,” King Chiao (焦文華), president of Hsin-Yuan Business Rehouse Co (欣元商仲), which conducted the survey, said yesterday by telephone.
Each storefront could cost as much as NT$100 million, he said.
Shilin (士林) storefronts were the second most expensive, with an average price of between NT$3.5 million and NT$5 million per ping, while those in Gongguan (公館), averaged between NT$3 million and NT$4 million, he said.
In 2004, the price of shops on Zhongxiao E Road averaged between NT$2 million and NT$2.6 million per ping. Rents in this area have not declined. The survey found that of 202 storefronts with a minimum space of 16 ping, 25 to 30 had rents of more than NT$1 million per month.
“That was the highest density, since few storefronts [of similar space] in Taiwan could charge a monthly rental of more than NT$1 million,” Chiao said.
Almost 87 percent of these 202 stores were rented to clothing, restaurant or banking businesses, he said, and there had been just a 2 percent vacancy in the area in the past two years.
Only 20 percent of these stores have changed hands in the past six years, the survey found. Twenty percent were paid in full without bank loans, the survey found.
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