The New Taipei City Government on Friday auctioned off 37 plots of land in Tucheng District (土城), all with a generous premium, as developers vie to build residential properties on the site of a former ammunition depot despite the current sluggish market, analysts said yesterday.
The 37 plots, which totaled 45.06 hectares, drew 123 bids and sold for a total of NT$7.4 billion (US$234.4 million), 24.25 percent higher than average floor prices, city government data showed.
“The auction results were a rare phenomenon in recent years, given the number of in auctions of public properties, especially for superfices rights, that either fell through or drew limited competition,” Michael Wang (王維宏), an account manager at Global Asset Management Co (全球資產), said by telephone.
WINNING BIDDERS
Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行), Win Sing Construction Co (文心建設), Shin Ruen Development Co (新潤興業), Advancetek Enterprise Co (名軒開發), Hung Ching Development & Construction Co (宏璟建設) and other investors all won one or more plots, beating out Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) and Huang Hsiang Construction Co (皇翔建設) among others, city data showed.
Cathay Real Estate spokesman Lin Chin-liang (林清樑) said the plots have promising development potential given the robust sales two years ago of one of the company’s residential project that it built nearby.
Redevelopment of the old depot area was stalled until recently by a lack of funding, the New Taipei City Government said.
The city said that it would set aside 30 percent of the land, or 15 hectares, for a school, park and other public space.
PROPERTY PRICING
Winning developments were likely to develop residential and commercial properties priced between NT$300,000 per ping (3.3m2) and NT$500,000 per ping depending on their locations, which stretch to the district’s Jingcheng Road (金城路), Cingyun Road (青雲), Hsuehfu Road and Mingteh Road (明德), Wang said.
An adjacent presale project, Tatung Smart Manor (大同莊園), is selling for NT$450,000 per ping and has proven popular due to its nearness to the MRT system’s Haishan Station, Wang said.
However, developments on the new plots might not reach that threshold since they are farther away from the station, Housing Monthly research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said.
The builders may want to delay launches of new housing projects until the market emerges from its current price correction, if they are shooting for price tags of more than NT$400,000 per ping, Ho said.
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