The vacancy rate for Grade-A offices in Taipei last quarter rose 0.5 percentage points, while rents climbed to a record NT$3,279 per ping (3.3m2), as demand remained healthy, property consultancy REPro Knight Frank (瑞普萊坊) said on Tuesday.
Despite the uptick, the 6.4 percent vacancy rate during the April-to-June period is lower than the 20-year average and Taipei ranked the fourth-best performer in the Asia-Pacific region, after Seoul’s 1.5 percent, Tokyo’s 4.3 percent and Singapore’s 5 percent, the international broker said.
The uptrend in office rents is due to inflation and the growing importance corporations assign to modern office spaces that can help boost work efficiency and meet environmental friendliness and energy conservation requirements, it said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
A total of 55,000 ping of new office spaces would join the market in central business districts later this year, aided by the government’s efforts to facilitate urban renewal projects and retire old and dilapidated buildings, it said.
Developers have responded, taking advantage of favorable building terms and related business opportunities, it said.
Hospitality service providers lent support by shutting down old facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and converting them into mixed-use complexes featuring residential and commercial spaces.
New high-end office buildings are near the Taipei Dome in the prime Xinyi District (信義), near Taipei Railway Station in Zhongzheng District (中正), across from the Howard Plaza Hotel Taipei (台北福華飯店) in Daan District (大安) and in Zhongshan District (中山).
Their entry would ease a supply crunch over the past few years that set off a relocation wave, REPro Knight Frank said.
Corporations have shown a preference for divisions to work in the same building as their headquarters to bolster communication and coordination, it said.
REPro Knight Frank said it is not worried about a supply glut as some buildings are intended for self-occupancy, such as a new complex owned by Yuanta Commercial Bank (元大銀行) near the Howard Hotel.
Furthermore, urban renewal projects account for several new office buildings, meaning the net gain in new offices is limited, it said.
In addition, the limited availability of land in Taipei and the lengthy complicated efforts for urban renewal projects would limit the entry of new office buildings and make the ones available attractive, it said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS