Centaline Property Co (中原地產), the largest property broker in Hong Kong, yesterday set up a branch office in Taipei in a move to benefit from Taiwan’s booming property market, following a trade pact inked by Taiwan and China.
The Hong Kong broker will target clients interested in trading commercial and residential properties in the Greater China area, where Centaline owns 1,500 offices and has 30,000 employees.
ECFA BENEFIT
“We expect Taiwan’s real--estate market to benefit long-term from the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement [ECFA]” as the signing in 2003 of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) by Hong Kong and China has done to Hong Kong real estate, Centaline chairman Sherman Lai (黎明楷) said.
Signing the ECFA in June last year was only the beginning of huge cross-strait business opportunities that will create more rich people in the region and Centaline intends to serve them, Lai said.
Presently, Taiwanese accounts for 1 percent to 2 percent of Centaline customers and the Hong Kong brokerage is confident the share will increase soon, given its well-established network in China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Lai said luxury home prices may climb another 5 percent to 10 percent this year as they are relatively low, compared with those in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.
Centaline declined to set a growth target for Taipei office space, saying its top priority is to get familiar with the market. The company expects its revenue to reach NT$41 billion (US$1.38 billion) this year, from NT$31.8 billion last year.
EXPANDING
Kenny Yu (余志文), deputy general manager in Taipei, said Centaline plans to open four more branches in the first half of this year and expand its staff from 20 to 100.
Centaline will broker pre-sale and second-hand properties and enter the luxury home market later, as the latter requires more professional know-how and requires more time to build customer relationships, Yu said.
Centaline plans to focus its services on homes between NT$600,000 per ping and NT$700,000 per ping (3.3m2) in Taipei.
“That explained why we opened our first branch on Roosevelt Road Sec 2, near Guting MRT Station,” Yu said. “Home prices in adjacent areas hover around this range.”
Yu said second-hand home prices in Taipei City are likely to consolidate this year unless the government allows individual Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan, which would significantly boost private consumption.
“Last year, 17 million Chinese tourists visited Hong Kong, lifting domestic demand sizably,” Yu said, “The experience can be repeated here if the government embraces the opening.”
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