The vacancy rate for grade-A offices in the April-to-June quarter dropped slightly from the previous quarter, while rental rates picked up mildly with firms planning to hire new staff and improve operations, encouraged by stable economic recoveries at home and abroad, Jones Lang LaSalle Taiwan (JLL, 仲量聯行) said in a report yesterday.
The vacancy rate for top-grade office space dropped 1.5 percentage points to 7.7 percent last quarter while rental rates increased 0.4 percent, the international property consultancy said.
“Taiwan’s leasing market has benefited from a global economic recovery that has encouraged firms to increase office space and hire employees,” JLL said in the report.
The total take-up amounted to 4,445 ping (14,694.24m2) last quarter, with a concentration in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) on the back of leasing demand from companies in financial, technology and retail sectors, the report said.
Those companies showed a preference for small and medium-sized office space, lowering the vacancy rate in the district to 6.8 percent and raising its monthly rental rates by 2.9 percent to NT$3,039 per ping from a year earlier, the report said.
Taipei’s Dunhua area, had a vacancy rate of 8.1 percent in the second quarter, down 0.4 of a percentage point from the previous quarter, driven by demand from domestic retailers and Chinese e-commerce providers, the report said.
Rental rates climbed a tiny 0.2 percent from the preceding quarter.
JLL expects the market to put up a better performance, as nearly 50 percent of Taiwanese, firms particularly life insurers, property brokers and retailers, have announced plans to enlarge the number of their staff, the report said.
Companies have made inquiries about vacant office space in central business districts, the report said, adding that some landlords are trying to attract tenants by offering rent-free periods of up to two weeks.
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