Taipei, June 10 (CNA) Taiwan ranked in 16th place among 20 cities in the Asia Pacific region in terms of rental rates for Grade A office space in the first quarter of the year, according to London-headquartered property consultant Knight Frank.
In a research report, Knight Frank said the average rent for Grade A offices in Taipei for the January-March period hit NT$2,592 (US$86.1) per ping, up 0.2 percent from a quarter earlier but down 0.3 percent from a year earlier. One ping equals 3.3 square meters.
Huang Shu-wei, deputy director of Knight Frank's research department, said the latest data indicated that the Grade A office market in Taipei remains stable.
Huang said that since select prominent projects such as Cathay Landmark located in Xinyi District offer prices of no less than NT$3,500 per ping (3.3 square meters), which has become an barometer for the local Grade A office market, he expects Grade A office rents in the capital to grow at a steady pace of 3-5 percent over the next six months.
However, Huang said that due to an increase in supply by about 30,000 ping in the fourth quarter, the vacancy rate is expected to rise from 8.10 percent to 10 percent.
In the rankings, Taipei was ahead of only Phnom Penh (NT$2,356), Manila (NT$1,841), Bangalore (NT$1,666) and Kuala Lumpur (NT$1,317) among the 20 Asia Pacific cities, the report showed.
Taipei lagged behind three major Chinese cities in terms of Grade A office rental rates in the rankings: Beijing (NT$5,524, No. 5), Shanghai (NT$4,454, No. 8) and Guangzhou (NT$2,716, No. 15), Knight Frank said.
Bangkok took 14th place in the rankings with an average rental rate for Grade A offices in the first quarter of NT$2,757 per ping, up 3.1 percent from a quarter earlier and also up 9.6 percent from the previous year, the highest growth among the 20 cities in the region, the report said.
Bangkok outperformed Taipei in Grade A office rents in the first quarter of last year and the gap between the two cities has widened since then, Knight Frank said. The Thai city even beat Guangzhou for the first time in the first quarter of this year, Knight Frank added.
Hong Kong remained the city with the highest rent for Grade A office space with an average rental rate of NT$21,150 per ping for the first quarter, up 2.5 percent from a quarter and 7.9 percent from a year earlier, Knight Frank said.
The advisory firm said that the rising rental rates in Hong Kong largely reflected strong demand for office space in Central, the territory's business district, from Chinese firms.
Tokyo came second, with average rent hitting NT$9,135 per ping for the first quarter, down 1.1 percent from the previous quarter and 1.8 percent from a year earlier, ahead of Singapore, where the average rental rate reached NT$6,182, down 0.9 percent from a quarter earlier and 8.7 percent from a year earlier, the report showed.
According to Knight Frank, the average rental rate in the 20 cities for the first quarter rose 1 percent from the previous quarter and gained 2.3 percent from a year earlier.
