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.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply
RSS