Taiwan’s commercial property market held firm in the second quarter, underpinned by large-scale acquisitions by tech firms even as developers pulled back on land purchases amid tighter credit and macroeconomic uncertainty, Savills Taiwan (第一太平戴維斯) said yesterday.
Deals involving commercial assets priced at more than NT$300 million (US$10.29 million) totaled NT$30.7 billion in the second quarter, up 5.5 percent from a year earlier, Savills said in a report.
That lifted transaction value in the first half of the year to NT$81.7 billion, a 13 percent annual increase, driven by strategic bets by the tech sector, it said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
In the second quarter, Global View Co (遠見科技) acquired a modern logistics center in Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅) for NT$6.24 billion, while Pegatron Corp (和碩) paid NT$5.63 billion for HTC Corp’s (宏達電) factory-office in Taoyuan’s Guishan Industrial Park (龜山產業園區).
“Tech firms are anchoring the market,” Savills Taiwan managing director of Taipei central management Ricky Huang (黃瑞楠) said. “Despite geopolitical pressure, Taiwan’s advanced manufacturing base is irreplaceable in the short term — and real estate strategies reflect that.”
Industrial assets dominated activity, accounting for more than 90 percent of the quarter’s commercial property transaction value.
Factory and factory-office transactions represented NT$17.4 billion and NT$10.6 billion respectively, as firms continued consolidating supply chains in response to US-China trade tensions, the report said.
By contrast, the land market slumped, with total transactions falling 52 percent from the previous year to NT$27 billion, it said.
Developers’ purchases dropped to just NT$14 billion, nearly 70 percent lower than three months earlier, reflecting caution over future housing demand and the effects of credit curbs, it said.
Land deals in the first half reached NT$87.2 billion, down 10 percent from a year earlier.
Institutional investors, particularly insurers, showed tentative signs of re-entering the market, despite a static 2.545 percent return hurdle.
Insurance companies invested NT$3.66 billion this quarter, including Taiwan Life Insurance Co’s (台灣人壽) NT$1.48 billion acquisition of a self-use office building in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖), while Yuanta Life Insurance Co (元大人壽) purchased NT$2.17 billion of land rights in Zhongshan District (中山) for a rental housing development.
Momentum might slow in the second half as companies prioritize liquidity and opt to lease rather than buy, Savills said.
While expected US rate cuts could improve global real estate sentiment, domestic constraints, such as lending restrictions and return requirements for institutional buyers, would likely keep acquisitions selective, Huang said.
Investors would continue to focus on high-yield industrial assets and locations beyond the Taipei area, he said.
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