Commercial property transactions last quarter more than doubled to NT$56.7 billion (US$1.78 billion) from three months earlier, driven by strong demand from local tech firms to expand their capacity, data released by property consultancy Savills Taiwan (第一太平戴維斯) on Tuesday showed.
Sales surged 176 percent from the same period last year.
Most of the commercial real-estate deals took place in southern Taiwan, with available properties becoming increasingly scarce in the north, Savills Taiwan said.
Photo courtesy of Sinyi Global Management Co
“Technology firms became the largest commercial property buyers by pouring NT$39.9 billion into existing factories, accounting for 70 percent of the deals during the July-to-September period,” Savills research manager Erin Ting (丁玟甄) said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s largest advanced chipmaker, bought an idle plant in Tainan from flat-panel display maker Innolux Corp (群創) for NT$17.14 billion, as it is increasing its advanced-chip packaging capacity, Ting said.
Micron Technology Taiwan Inc (台灣美光), the local subsidiary of a US producer of computer memory and computer data storage, acquired an industrial property in Tainan from flat-panel supplier AUO Corp (友達) for NT$7.4 billion, she said.
Chip tester and packager ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) bought two industrial complexes in Kaohsiung for NT$5.26 billion to meet expansion needs, she said.
All three firms have benefitted from business improvement linked to an artificial intelligence boom and intend to add capacity by acquiring existing factories, Ting said.
In the first three quarters of the year, commercial property transactions totaled NT$124.9 billion, rising 33 percent from a year earlier, Savills data showed.
Tech firms contributed NT$56.6 billion, or 47 percent, followed by developers and builders at NT$26.3 billion and investment institutions at NT$9.9 billion, it said.
Developers and builders have targeted old hotels, office buildings and factories in major urban areas since urban renewal projects and reconstruction of dilapidated buildings are not subject to the central bank’s loan restrictions, Savills Taiwan said.
By contrast, life insurance companies, traditionally the main players in the commercial property market, stayed low-key in the first nine months of this year.
Ting attributed it to the required minimum investment return of 2.97 percent for life insurers following waves of interest rate hikes.
Soaring property prices in recent years have added to their difficulty, especially in northern Taiwan and special municipalities, Ting said.
Instead, life insurers have sought to use their investment funds for public development projects, Savills Taiwan said.
Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽) late last month won a contract to develop a 57,000 ping (188,430m2) plot of land in Taoyuan for NT$13.7 billion, aiming to build hotels, shopping spaces and a mixed-use stadium, it said.
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