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Commercial Realty Transaction Value Grew 2.83 Times YOY in 2007

2008/01/04 | By Ben Shen

Taipei, Jan. 4, 2008 (CENS)--Commercial property transaction value in Taiwan market amounted to NT$119 billion (US$3.66 billion at US$1:NT$32.5) in 2007, growing 2.83 times from a year earlier, according to statistics compiled by Savills Plc.

Savills is a leading global real estate service provider listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company, established in 1855, has a rich heritage with unrivalled growth. It is a company that leads rather than follows and now has over 180 offices and associates throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East.

Savills Taiwan president Chu Hsing-erh said the annual transaction value for domestic commercial property market would be able to exceed NT$100 billion (US$3.07 billion) in 2008 if Cross-Strait relations can be further improved in the wake of the upcoming Presidential election slated for March 22.

The market research unit of Savills Taiwan noted domestic commercial property market saw a huge influx of investment funds in the latter part of 2007 with six largest cases in excess of NT$5 billion (US$153.8 million) each, including the BenQ building, Exxon Mobil Chienkuo N. Rd. building, Kuo Hua Life Insurance building, CLSA Asia-Pacific Economic & Trade building, B&Q building, and Shinkong Minsheng building.

The cumulative transaction value for the market amounted to NT$69.5 billion (US$2.13 billion) in the second half of 2007, up 40.3% from the first half.

Research conducted by Savills showed major investors in domestic commercial property market in 2007 came from foreign private equity funds, foreign life insurers and domestic life insurance companies. Of this, the investments launched by foreign private equity funds accounted for 22% of the market's total transaction value in 2007. Foreign life insurers accounted for 15% and domestic life insurers commanded 21%.

Chu said foreign investors accounted for four out of the seven large-sized investors with investments amounting to over NT$5 billion (US$153.84 million) each in domestic commercial property market in 2007. The four foreign investors put over NT$34 billion (US$1.04 billion) in domestic commercial property market in 2007.