Amid the global economic recovery, the domestic real estate market has shown signs of rebound as the transaction volume of storefronts rose by more than 20 percent year-on-year in Taipei City last year, with a record high of NT$950,000 (US$29,900) per ping (3.2m²) on average, a survey showed yesterday.
The survey, conducted by local real estate broker Evertrust Rehouse (永慶房屋) last month, found that storefronts in Taipei City’s upscale Da-an (大安), Zhongzheng (中正) and Xinyi (信義) districts were the best performers last year.
The realtor’s statistics showed that storefront prices in Taipei exceeded on average NT$1 million per ping in the fourth quarter of last year, with Da-an District topping the list at NT$1.37 million per ping, followed by Zhongzheng District at NT$1.27 million and Wanhua (萬華) District at NT$1.2 million.
“The proposed economic agreement with China, the low-interest rate and a business rebound led the Taipei City’s storefront market to turn upbeat,” David Lee (李元鳳) told a media briefing yesterday.
Last year, storefront transactions in Xinyi District posted the biggest increase, at 60 percent, from the previous year, followed by Da-an District at 57 percent and Zhongzheng District at 50 percent, Lee said.
Evertrust, however, did not disclose the transaction volume.
In Taipei County, storefronts in Banciao (板橋) posted the highest purchase price — averaging NT$675,000 per ping — last year despite a slight decrease of 3.7 percent from the previous year, the survey showed.
Purchase prices of storefronts in Xinzhuang (新莊) saw the biggest year-on-year increase, at 14 percent, and reached an average of NT$528,000 per ping last year, the realtor said, adding that the turnover volume of storefronts in Banchiao rose about 30 percent from the previous year, followed by Yonghe (永和) and Tucheng (土城).
The survey also found that the Da-an and Zhongshan (中山) districts in Taipei City and Banciao, as well as central Yonghe in Taipei County, were among the most popular areas with storefront investors.
Lee said that people who intend to invest in storefronts should pay attention to the development of commercial areas, vacancy rates and return rates, adding that vacancy rates are an essential factor in stabilizing rental prices, and that return rates are key to deciding whether investors are willing to purchase.
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