About US$5.5 billion worth of commercial property changed hands in Taiwan last year, soaring 49 percent from a year earlier to a record high, fueled by strong performance in the industrial sector and a substantial hotel deal, Real Capital Analytics Inc said in a report yesterday.
“Taiwan made record in a positive way, thanks to the benefits of coming down hard on the COVID-19 pandemic and border controls early last year paid dividends for commercial property investors,” said David Green-Morgan, Real Capital managing director for the Asia-Pacific region.
It was the second time that Taiwan outperformed Singapore in commercial property deals, Green-Morgan said.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, Bloomberg
Industrial investments received a boost from continued realignment of electronics supply chains in the region, prompted by US-China trade tensions and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Real Capital said.
Sales of commercial property in the Asia-Pacific region picked up in the fourth quarter of last year, ending the pandemic-blighted year on a brighter note, it said.
Fourth-quarter sales reached US$44.7 billion, 10 percent lower than the same period in 2019 before the pandemic cast a shadow over the region, it added.
Last year’s sales in the region totaled US$141.2 billion across major income-producing property types, slumping 23 percent from a peak a year earlier, Real Capital said.
Several sectors and geographies surpassed previous levels in terms of dealmaking, despite the challenges presented by lockdowns, travel bans and the dimmed economic outlook, it said.
Taiwan, South Korea and India all hit record acquisition levels as a surge in demand for logistics facilities and data centers bolstered the industrial sector, it said.
Sales of development sites, principally in China, recovered 9 percent in the final quarter from a year earlier, but fell 7 percent for the whole of last year, with annual deal volume of US$628.5 billion, it added.
“The market has steadied and saw a rebound in the fourth quarter after a bleak and uncertain start to 2020,” Green-Morgan said.
The trend bodes well for market activity as Real Capital said it saw a number of deals across the region roll over into this year.
The industrial sector would forge ahead, thanks mainly to record trading of logistics assets and a spike in demand for data centers, it said.
Transactions in the logistics sector exceeded US$13 billion for the third consecutive year, as demand continues to outstrip supply, Real Capital said.
Data center deals more than tripled over the 2019 levels to almost US$5 billion in investment, it said.
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