Taiwan Asset Management Co (TAMC, 台灣金聯資產管理), funded by the government to help digest the nation’s non-performing loans (NPL), yesterday put a batch of low-priced real-estate properties nationwide valued at NT$200 million (US$6.73 million) on the market.
TAMC, which has 1,280 real-estate properties, intends to lease rather than sell real estate in commercially viable locations as it seeks to shift its focus to property management, necessitated by the depleting bad loan pool, company chairman Hwang Ding-fang (黃定方) said.
Rental yields are expected to generate 30 percent of the company’s income toward the end of the year, when a resort hotel in Chihpen in Taitung County starts operations, Hwang said.
Last year, the company partnered with a hotel and restaurant operator Honeymoon Four Seasons Co (蜜月四季餐旅購) to turn a vacated building into a four-star hotel.
The 10-story hotel, tentatively named the Century Hotel (金聯世紀大飯店), could generate 7.5 percent in rental yields for TMAC.
TAMC acquired zero NPL last year after bad loans among domestic financial institutions dropped to 0.4 percent, Hwang said.
Tighter NPL disposal requirements will further shrink the pool, as the Financial Supervisory Commissions seeks to better protect the rights of debtors, Hwang said.
The latest property batch consists of 100 studios and apartments in different parts of Taiwan, with some priced 60 percent lower than market rates, Hwang said.
“TAMC was not created to maximize profits, but to support government policies,” he said.
To help rein in housing prices, TAMC does not charge commission and allows the fate of popular properties to be decided through lot drawing, instead of by raising prices, Hwang said.
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