Transactions of commercial property in Taiwan fell to a seven-year low last year at a time when the local economy was slowing down, according to a recent research report.
Citing the report, international property consultancy DTZ Debenham Tie Leung (戴德梁行) said that transactions of office and shop space in Taiwan totaled NT$77.86 billion (US$2.32 billion) for the whole of last year, down 14 percent from the previous year.
Last year’s transaction value even fell to the lowest level since 2008 due to poor performance in the local economy, DTZ said.
Taiwan’s economy grew only 0.85 percent last year, the slowest growth in six years, compared with a 3.92 percent increase seen in 2014, according to government statistics released on Jan. 29.
In addition to the weaker economic fundamentals, DTZ said political uncertainty ahead of the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 16 further dampened sentiment in the local commercial property market last year, while a tax reform to collect capital gains in property transactions also drove many investors to the sidelines.
FOURTH QUARTER
Transactions picked up significantly in the fourth quarter of last year, spiking to NT$48.92 billion, accounting for more than half of the total last year, but the increase failed to help the local commercial property sector climb out of the doldrums for the whole year, DTZ said.
The soaring transactions in the fourth quarter were largely due to investors wanting to avoid being taxed under the reformed tax law, which took effect from Jan. 1 this year.
The law aims to curb property market speculation by imposing a capital gains tax of up to 45 percent on people who sell their commercial or residential property within a certain period of time from the date of purchase.
LIFE INSURERS
DTZ said that the increase in transactions in the fourth quarter also resulted from a move by the government to lower the investment return requirement imposed on local life insurance companies for their property investments to 2.555 percent from the previous 2.805 percent.
The cut in the return requirement, starting from November last year, has prompted several major life insurers to jump into the local commercial property market and buy, which boosted the transactions in the fourth quarter.
On the back of a decline in commercial property supply in the fourth quarter, rents in grade-A offices, in particular in Taipei showed signs of increasing, DTZ said.
The average office rental price in Taipei during the October-to-December period hit NT$2,510 per ping (3.3m2) a month, up 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter and 2.2 percent year-on-year to mark the highest quarterly level in three years, the report showed.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in