Hiyes International Co Ltd (海悅國際開發) retained its title as Taiwan’s largest housing broker by securing NT$100.55 billion (US$3.32 billion) of business last year, an annual survey released yesterday by Chinese-language Housing Monthly (住展雜誌) showed.
Hiyes, which has held the largest broker position for 11 consecutive years, last year managed to win consignment cases across northern Taiwan, except in Yilan County, the magazine said.
It is not clear if Hiyes would repeat the strategy and maximize business volume this year, rather than focus on sales rates that would determine profitability, Housing Monthly research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said in a report.
An outbreak of COVID-19 in China might prompt brokers to reconsider their strategies due to business disruptions and sapping consumer sentiment, Ho said.
“The principle of ‘the more, the merrier’ made sense in a bullish market last year, but caution might dominate in times of uncertainty,” Ho said.
Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed broker, which has expanded its portfolio to include presale housing projects, finished second in the survey with 68.16 billion cases, more than triple its level in 2018, the magazine said.
Sinyi, which relied heavily on existing homes that require lower advertisement spending, has mainly played the role of a rescue pitcher, taking over unsold cases from developers on the presale market, it said.
The strategy allowed Sinyi to win luxury home cases such as Kingdom Xinyi (冠德信義) in Taipei’s prime Xinyi District (信義), as well as Vanilla Manor (香草莊園) and New World (宏盛新世界) in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), Ho said, adding that Kingdom Xinyi alone generated NT$18 billion in potential sales.
Newland Developers Group (新聯陽實業) was third in the survey with NT$59.45 billion of business, more than double its volume in 2018, the survey showed.
The company had a profitable year by selling out residential projects in Taipei’s Beitou (北投) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts, as well as New Taipei City’s Tucheng (土城) and Banciao (板橋) districts, it said.
JSL Group (甲山林) came in fourth with NT$50.6 billion in business, primarily from its own development projects, the survey said.
JSL favors development projects in New Taipei City and Taoyuan districts that require relatively low land costs, but enjoy favorable development terms, it said.
The survey said that the market has grown increasingly challenging for small players.
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