Taiwan's urban land price index up 1.4% to 101.88, Apr. 1 – Sept. 30, 2004

Taipei, Jan. 20, 2005 (CENS)--Thanks to stable growth in the real estate market Taiwan's urban land price index stood at 101.88 for the six-month period from April 1 to September 30, 2004, climbing up by 1.4% from the preceding six months, according to the statistics released by Ministry of the Interior (MOI).

MOI noted that the urban land price index growth reflected a recovery of the domestic real estate market. Among urban areas in Taiwan, Yilan City, in the eastern part of the island, recorded the highest rise of 3.59% in the index.\

Of the residential districts, Taipei's Ta An District posted the highest land price of NT$279,195 (US$8,212 at US$1 = NT$34) per square meter or NT$922,958 (US$27,146) per ping (one ping = 36 sq/ft).

The commercial and industrial areas of Taipei's Hsinyi District ranked first in land prices of their kinds, with the former at NT$826,391 (US$24,306) per square meter or NT$2.732 million (US$80,350) per ping and the latter at NT$196,000 (US$5,765) per square meter or NT$647,933 (US$19,057) per ping.

Recently National Property Bureau (NPB) under the Ministry of Finance (MOF) auctioned some state-owned land lots to the public. One of the auctioned lots, sizing 151 pings and located near the popular SOGO department store on Chunghsiao E. Rd., Section 3, was obtained by an individual bidder with a bidding price of NT$212 million (US$6.24 million), 30% higher than the set floor price. Another auctioned land lot of 82 pings, located near Linyi St., a quiet residential area in Taipei, was sold for NT$83.7 million (US$2.46 million), 70.64% more than the floor price of NT$49.05 million (US$1.44 million).

NPB noted that the property market in cities on the island is warming up and the ballooning land prices in Taipei would signal a bright market outlook for the year.