Taiwan commercial real estate market heating up as foreign capital pours in

This article was written by Bowun Jhu and published by the Taiwan Journal on January 20, 2006. It reports that the commercial reality market in Taiwan did very well in 2005, thanks to the massive release of assets-based securities and the injection of foreign capital.

Specifically, the total trading volume of Taiwan's commercial realty market in 2005 shot up nearly fivefold to about US$2 billion, from about US$400 million in 2004. Foreign investment accounted for US$625 million, or close to one-third of the total trading volume.

Statistics show that in the fourth quarter of 2005, grade-A office buildings in Taipei City cost an average of US$15,000 per ping, or 36 square feet.