Land transactions by listed firms totaled NT$49.1 billion (US$1.65 billion) in the first half of this year, falling 27 percent from a year earlier, as companies turned cautious about investing in land, Sinyi Global Realty Co (信義全球) said yesterday.
Despite the slump in transaction value, the number of deals climbed from 53 to 56, as players grew more financially astute about where to put their money amid increasingly unfavorable lending terms, said Sinyi Global, the commercial property arm of Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋).
Soaring land and labor prices have prompted property developers to slow the pace of acquiring land, Sinyi Global said, adding that land financing restrictions and interest rate hikes also weighed on purchases.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Property developers remained the largest players, accounting for 71.9 percent of the transactions in the first six months of the year, with Taipei, New Taipei City and Kaohsiung making up 50 percent of the deals, it said.
Technology firms also joined the fray, contributing NT$5.4 billion, led by chip designer Mediatek Inc (聯發科), which won the superfices right to a plot of land at the high-speed rail station in Hsinchu for NT$3.77 billion, it said.
By area, Taoyuan topped the ranking at 36,000 ping (119,008m2), followed by Hsinchu County’s 22,000 ping and Tainan’s 14,000 ping, it said.
About 90 percent of the land deals fell outside Greater Taipei, where large and idle land is hard to find, especially in popular locations, it said.
Sinyi Global said it expects the cautious sentiment to persist next quarter, as developers would hesitate to add to their land inventory unless they are confident about sales.
Property funds are likely to continue to flow to central and southern Taiwan, where the cost of land is more affordable, it said.
Builders are also shifting their focus to the development of office buildings, which have robust demand, it said.
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