Permits for new office space construction totaled 612,000 ping (2 million square meters) in the first half of this year, up 91 percent from a year earlier, as demand for upscale offices remained strong, Shining Building Business Co (鄉林建設) said yesterday.
The growth, which occurred despite new policies unfavorable to building projects, could be attributed to companies that relocated operations from abroad, and to a lack of upscale office spaces in popular locations, the Taichung-based developer said.
In Taipei, permits for new office space construction reached 314,000 ping in the first six months, which not only expanded by 7.6 times from a year earlier, but outperformed new residential spaces whose combined areas total 251,000 ping, Shining Building said, citing government data.
It is the first time in 10 years that the areas of planned office spaces exceeded those of residential spaces, the company said, adding that developers had shifted their focus to commercial properties.
Strong demand for Grade A offices are behind the rise in Taipei’s prime districts, despite COVID-19 infections and economic uncertainty, it said.
Monthly rents in the Taipei 101 skyscraper climbed to more than NT$5,000 per ping and rose to more than NT$4,200 at the nearby Taipei Nan Shan Plaza office tower.
Vacancies hit record lows in the city’s Xinyi (信義), Daan (大安), Neihu (內湖) and Nangan (南港) districts, prompting potential tenants to look elsewhere in the city, it said.
Shining, which owns unsold mixed-use complexes in Shihlin District (士林) near the National Palace Museum, said that inquiries increased 30 percent recently.
The areas of residential spaces nationwide with building permits stagnated at 3.64 million ping, while that of warehousing and logistics facilities grew to 1.35 million ping, Shining said.
Unfavorable lending and tax terms intended to curb property speculation should not affect urban renewal or industrial development projects, Shining Building said.
Taipei and Kaohsiung had seen permits for commercial and industrial projects nearly double, it added.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had
RSS