Land values as assessed by local governments last week are to be lower next year than they were this year.
There is to be a nationwide drop in both “publicly declared land value” — a reference for landowners to declare land prices to tax authorities — and “publicly declared current land value” — which is used by individuals to declare the transfer of land ownership and serves as a basis for calculating land value increment tax levels following land transactions.
This means there will be a lower tax burden on landowners, market watchers said.
The latest assessments indicate that the publicly declared land value in Taichung is likely to decline 6.36 percent from this year, the largest decrease in the nation, while the value in Taipei is to drop 6.12 percent, the biggest fall since 1987 when the capital started collecting such data.
SIGNIFICANT LOSSES
The Taipei Department of Land Administration estimated that the decline in publicly declared land value would cause a yearly shortfall of NT$2 billion (US$66.74 million) in land tax revenue for the city.
The publicly declared land value is expected to fall 4 percent in Taoyuan and 0.84 percent in New Taipei City, the first decline since 1991 for both special municipalities.
The values are to decrease by 1 percent in Kaohsiung and 0.05 percent in Tainan, their first decreases since 2011, the assessments showed.
As for publicly declared current land value, Taichung is to see a decline of 2.41 percent, the largest among the six major cities, followed by decreases of 1.82 percent for New Taipei City, 1.76 percent for Taipei, 0.98 percent for Taichung, 0.42 percent for Kaohsiung and 0.04 percent for Tainan, according to the assessments.
ACTUAL VS ASSESSED
The declines in both categories reflect listless transactions in the property sector and keep pace with the changes in actual market prices this year, real-estate brokers said, adding that actual land prices are still higher than the government’s assessed values.
For instance, in Taipei the new publicly declared land value is about 26.28 percent of actual market prices, while the new publicly declared current land value is about 95.23 percent of market rates, the department said.
In terms of individual lots, the plot occupied by Taipei 101 is to remain the most valuable in the nation for the fifth consecutive year with a value of NT$1.74 million per square meter, down more than 1 percent from this year, the assessments showed.
The land occupied by the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Building in Taipei will still be the second-most expensive, with a market value of NT$1.72 million per square meter, according to the assessments.
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