Commercial property transactions in Taiwan increased 2.8 percent to NT$137 billion (US$4.46 billion) this year, mainly due to demand for offices and factories, but land deals tumbled 20.4 percent to a six-year low of NT128.4 billion due to unfavorable lending terms, Colliers International Taiwan (高力國際) said on Wednesday.
The property market would be stronger next year, as a monetary tightening cycle is likely over, giving firms more financial muscle to expand capacity and boost their real-estate holdings, the property broker said.
Self-occupancy demand for offices and factories contributed 53 percent of commercial property deals, or NT$73.2 billion, Colliers Taiwan senior research director Eilleen Liang (梁儀盈) told a news conference in Taipei, citing transaction data for the year to Monday.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
A real-estate investment trust in June sold two office buildings in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) for NT$2.98 billion and NT$2.45 billion, suggesting a premium of 1.1 percent and 5.3 percent respectively despite a sluggish economy, Liang said.
As for industrial property deals, a Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) affiliate bought a factory complex in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城) and Topco Scientific Co (崇越科技), a distributor of semiconductor materials, purchased an office building in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖), Colliers Taiwan said.
Local insurers, normally the main commercial property players, failed to make the list of the top 10 deals this year, Colliers Taiwan managing director Andrew Liu (劉學龍) said, calling the situation rare.
Liu attributed the absence to a series of interest rate hikes that drove up the minimum yield requirement to 2.875 percent for real-estate investments by insurance companies.
Rising property prices make it difficult to pass the test in the first place, he added.
Land deals were weaker despite help from auctions of public plots of land in Taichung and Kaohsiung this quarter, Liu said.
“It was unusual to see no land deals in excess of NT$5 billion this year,” Liu said, adding that credit controls and other unfavorable measures were to blame.
Hung Yuan Development Co (宏園建設) and Ruicheng Construction Co (瑞誠建設) jointly bought a plot of land in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) for NT$4.79 billion, making it the largest deal by value, Colliers Taiwan said.
Looking ahead, there is no reason not to be positive about the property market, Liu said.
The world is keen about the prospects for artificial intelligence, so Taiwanese firms in the supply chain would benefit and need more office space, Colliers Taiwan said.
Local insurers and developers also would boost their holdings once the US Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, it said, adding that inflation pressure appears to have been brought under control.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
UNCERTAINTIES: The world’s biggest chip packager and tester is closely monitoring the US’ tariff policy before making any capacity adjustments, a company official said ASE Technology Holding Inc (日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it is cautiously evaluating new advanced packaging capacity expansion in the US in response to customers’ requests amid uncertainties about the US’ tariff policy. Compared with its semiconductor peers, ASE has been relatively prudent about building new capacity in the US. However, the company is adjusting its global manufacturing footprint expansion after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs in April, and new import duties targeting semiconductors and other items that are vital to national security. ASE subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) is participating in Nvidia
RSS