The nation’s property market this year should remain stable, supported by office and land transactions, Cushman & Wakefield Taiwan (戴德梁行) said yesterday, calling expectations of a boom unrealistic.
The local branch of the US property consultancy, which last year helped auction off the unprofitable Living Mall (京華城) in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), said that it has spotted signs of recovery.
However, a recovery could be quashed if sellers turn greedy and refuse to budge, it added.
“Buyers will continue to command the upper hand and they have no intention of raising offers,” Taiwan branch general manager Billy Yen (顏炳立) told a news conference in Taipei.
Sellers intent on cashing out with generous profits would again be disappointed, Yen said, adding that price concessions over the past few years allowed the market to bottom out last year, and extra adjustments of 5 percent to 10 percent are necessary to attract buyers for unsold properties in central locations.
Living Mall’s parent company, Core Pacific Group (威京集團), lowered the asking price for the complex from NT$38 billion to NT$34.2 billion (US$1.26 billion to US$1.14 billion) before selling it to a unit affiliated with China Petrochemical Development Corp (中石化) for NT$37.2 billion, he added.
Yen said he has not seen funds flowing into the residential property market from capital repatriation or firms returning from China.
Instead, those companies have probably invested in manufacturing facilities and shored up local shares, he said.
Because developers and builders last year eagerly acquired plots of land increasingly farther out from popular locations — aided by low interest rates and flush liquidity — presale projects over the next few years will have relatively affordable asking prices,” he said.
However, the property market would not see a boom as long as investors continue to remain on the sidelines, Yen added.
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