Taiwan Prepares for the Arrival of Luxury Investors
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TAIPEI — Taiwan’s luxury property market — long passed over by international investors — finally may be poised to attract overseas money, analysts here say.
Like most real estate markets worldwide, Taiwan’s took a beating in the global recession. But now a strong recovery, tax cuts, stable political relations with China and expectations of a flood of mainland Chinese investment have combined to drive prices to record highs.
Some already fear a bubble, but real estate experts here dismiss the idea. They say demand continues to outpace supply in Taiwan’s relatively small luxury sector and will do so for the foreseeable future, especially when Chinese and other overseas money starts to arrive.
“Taiwan’s luxury home market will become more international,” said Greg Yeh, an adviser to Evertrust Rehouse, a real estate agency based in Taipei that specializes in luxury residential property. “Taiwan was closed for too long, but now, you will find a new Formosa,” he said, using an old name for Taiwan.
In preparation for those overseas clients, the agency has begun preparing sales materials in English and the simplified Chinese script used on the mainland. (Traditional Chinese characters are still used in Taiwan.)
