Demand for warehouses and logistics facilities has spiked in the past few years, aided by booming online shopping and port congestion amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Colliers International Taiwan (高力國際) said yesterday.
The past three years have seen 22 major transactions of warehouses and logistics facilities valued at NT$29.94 billion (US$1.05 billion) and covering 209,100 ping (690,030m2), the size of 2.3 Daan Forest Parks in Taipei, the property broker said.
Colliers Taiwan managing director Andrew Liu (劉學龍) identified three investment approaches in warehouses and logistics facilities, namely by taking up the role of landlords, service providers and operators.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) and Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) are landlords to several warehouses and logistics facilities that generate rental incomes equal to 4 percent of annual returns, Liu said.
Ally Logistic Property Co (永聯物流) offers warehousing and logistics solutions for clients in electronics and retail sectors, a business model that provides higher returns than rents, Liu said.
Meanwhile, companies such as food and beverage conglomerate Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), supermarket chain operator PX Mart Co Ltd (全聯實業) and e-commerce operator Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體) buy plots and build their own warehouses and logistics facilities to meet operational needs, Liu said, adding that their business scales are large and their pockets deep enough to warrant such a strategy.
Most warehousing deals are concentrated in Taoyuan’s Guanyin (觀音), Gueishan (龜山), Dasi (大溪) and Lujhu (蘆竹) districts; New Taipei City’s Wugu District (五股); Keelung; and Hsinchu’s Hukou Township (湖口), Collier Taiwan said.
Solid demand has pushed up industrial plot prices by 40 percent since 2018, the broker said.
Warehouses and logistics facilities are sparse in Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Changhua County, but their numbers might increase in central and southern Taiwan in the coming years on the back of emerging industrial clusters and land scarcity in the north, Collier Taiwan said.
Industrial plots of more than 10,000 ping and near highway entrances are ideal sites for warehouses and logistics facilities, it said.
Apart from Cathay Life, Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) and Transglobe Life Insurance Co (全球人壽) also have displayed investment interest in warehouses and logistics facilities, it said.
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