The Taipei City Government yesterday raised its assessed land value in the nation’s capital by an average of 9.31 percent, compared with an average increase of 9.87 percent last year, in a bid to narrow the gap between the tax-linked figures and real market.
The land value, on which Shin Kong Life Tower (新光摩天大樓) sits across from the Taipei Railway Station in Zhongzheng District (中正), retained its “King of Land” title for the 15th consecutive year, trailed by the area around Taipei 101 in Xinyi District (信義), the city government’s annual report showed.
The new rates will take effect on Jan. 1, increasing tax burdens for real estate transactions.
“Strengthened infrastructure facilities can make the capital city the first choice among home buyers and property investors,” the city government said.
Land values have continued to rise, unaffected by a series of unfavorable policies that have significantly cooled real estate transactions, it added.
Government assessed land values are much lower than actual trading prices and critics have pressed for heavier holding costs to curb property speculation.
For the past three years, the Taipei City Government has raised its assessments of land values by an average of 34.6 percent, which will translate into higher land value increment levies charged on sellers upon transfers of real-estate properties.
Tseng Chin-der (曾敬德), a researcher at Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed broker, expects the city government to adjust land values higher in the future to bolster its coffers and slow property price hikes.
Residential land blocks near Howard Hotel (福華飯店) on Sec 2 and 3 of Renai Rd are considered the most expensive in the city, valued at NT$2.4 million per ping (3.3m2), the city government said.
The city government also increased government-designated land prices, numbers used to tax property owners on a yearly basis, by an average of 5.54 percent.
The adjustments take place every three years.
The city government aims to raise the designated land prices to 90 percent of actual trading rates in 2015. They currently account for 87.6 percent of trading rates following the latest hikes.
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