COLLIERS FLASH COMMERCIAL PROPERTY | RESEARCH | TAICHUNG | 28 MAY 2020 TAICHUNG’S FAST-GROWING NEW BUSINESS DISTRICT Eilleen Liang Top investment destination for high-quality office, retail, hotel and high-end residential in Taichung Director | Research | Taiwan +886 2 8722 8601 [email protected] Insights & 18,000 person 16.7 KM with 18 Recommendations increase per year stations The New City Hall Business Taichung City is a rapidly growing metropolitan The MRT green line spans six District (NCHBD) is a multi-centric area, adding an average of 18,000 people per administrative districts and is scheduled hub in central Taiwan. The office year in the last five years, the second to open by the end of 2020. We expect market was active in Q1, with largest increase among Taiwan’s six this will bring TOD opportunities along impact from COVID-19 not yet metros. the new route. apparent. > We expect the NCHBD to become Taichung’s largest Highest growth of new company prime office market in the next five years. registrations > Continued manufacturing The Taichung City government is working to improve the investment environment and infrastructure. Nearly 60% of the city’s annual budget is allocated to upgrade the investment in Taichung City industrial structure, boost research and development, and build infrastructure. Thus, we should drive demand for have found the new company registrations rank the highest among Taiwan’s six metros office space. We recommend the office sector in Taichung as the most stable and > Three main drivers supported land transactions and office leasing demand in Taichung City: population growth, promising investment improvements to transportation networks, and industrial investment. opportunity. > New City Hall Business District (NCHBD) integrates five major themes: politics, economy, transportation, culture > We recommend tenants with and leisure, and the plan calls for clustering of high-quality office, retail, hotel and high-end residential developments. Properties here have the highest asset value and land is ready for immediate development. expansion or relocation requirements consider the > Located within the Mt. Dadu industrial corridor, the cluster effect has been apparent. NCHBD has become a top NCHBD, as landlords may location for headquarters and office relocations, especially for the financial services, TMT and manufacturing offer more flexible terms in sectors. We believe this area is in the midst of rapid growth. 2020. Note: USD1 to NTD30.2 at the end of Q1 2020. 1ping = 3.3 sq m COLLIERS FLASH COMMERCIAL PROPERTY | RESEARCH | TAICHUNG | 28 MAY 2020 Dajia Daan > Commercial development started in the Central, East and South districts. As the area became Waipu saturated, development extended westward. Houli Qingshui 1 > Located along Mt. Dadu, Xitun District is part of the state-of-the-art industrial corridor in Taichung, Shengang which is well-known for precision machinery and machine tools. Taiwan is the fourth-largest global Shigang 2 exporter of machine tools. Mount Dadu Wuqi Fengyuan Shalau Dongshi Heping industrial corridor Daya3 > The seventh re-zoning district, with an area of 354.4 hectares, spans cross Xitun and Nantun districts. Xinshe 4 Tanzi Positioned as a sub-business district, it has become the new commercial landmark area since 2000. Longjing Xitun 5 Beitun North > NCHBD refers to the area Dadu Nantun Central MRT Green Line surrounded by Shizheng The Mt. Dadu West East Taiping B8 Road, Chaofu Road, South industrial corridor Wuri Dali Office Retail Taiwan Avenue and Okura Taichung Wenxin Road. After nearly covers Houli, 30 years of development, Government Shengkeng, Daya, Hotel Wufeng Building it integrates five major Xitun and Nantun themes: politics, economy, districts. It forms a 7th re-zoning area transportation, culture well-known precision and leisure. machinery cluster, > The most important and is the most business clusters combine office, finance, retail important economic New office supply- Great Building consumption, area in Taichung City Taichung Science Park, 1 Houli campus entertainment and high- G9 B9 end accommodation. 2 Fong Zhou Technology Park > This is the entertainment Taichung Science Park, 3 Taichung campus and shopping hub for central Taiwan, supported 4 Taichung Industrial Park by population from Taichung, Chunghwa, and 5 Taichung City Precision Machinery Innovation Nantou, totaling 4.58 Technology Park New office supply- million. Taichung Commercial Bank > This is a top location for central Taiwan business New office supply- Fongyi headquarters. Three new office projects and one 1 https://www.invest- hotel are scheduled to be taichung.com.tw/investment- completed by 2023. environment/industrial-settlement/ Source: Google Map 2 COLLIERS FLASH COMMERCIAL PROPERTY | RESEARCH | TAICHUNG | 28 MAY 2020 The business hub, attracting company relocation Industrial transformation, factory expansion and re- In addition to Taipei City, Taichung City is another major metro area with shoring by Taiwanese companies drove the property office clusters. Of these, NCHBD is the most active with leasing activity. The market, with Xitun being the top destination vacancy rate dropped from 36.7% in Q1 2018 to 15.3% in Q1 2020, implying 38,810 ping (128,070 square metres) of net absorption. As part of the Mt. Nearly 60% of the city’s annual budget is allocated to support, promote and Dadu industrial corridor, the NCHBD has a cluster effect, and is the top upgrade industries, the highest among Taiwan’s six metros. Together with destination for new entrants to the region. In 2019, over 70% of leasing increasing population and upcoming opening of an MRT line, these factors are We expect demand was from outside NCHBD. Two main drivers were finance and set to boost the property market. As of May 2020, over NTD1.01 trillion Three Invest in Taiwan , increasing insurance and the TMT sectors, pushing rent up to NTD980 per ping per (USD33.4 billion) has been approved by the plan with month (USD9.8 per square metre per month), with landmark buildings companies like Giant Machinery and Mobiletron having expansion plans in investments from Taichung City. We expect this to push up the demand for industrial land, retail the manufacturing reaching NTD1,150 per ping per month (USD11.5 per square metre per month). In H2 2020 and beyond, we believe Taichung City’s development to development, and housing. In 2019, Taichung City, benefited from Taiwanese and retail sectors be promising, thanks to its industrial transformation. company re-shoring and manufacturing expansion as it has a high to create jobs and concentration of Taiwanese-Mainland companies. Coupled with low interest drive demand for NCHBD office rent (NTD per ping per month) and vacancy rate rates, owner-occupied purchases were active, pushing up the transaction of office space, Average rent Vacancy rate commercial property to a record high of NTD9.8 billion (USD320 million). thereby pushing 1050 46.0% 50% 995 1,005 In 2019, developers were also quite active with land purchases, driving the up the office rent 36.7% 980 988 1000 958 969 40% land sale total to NTD65.4 billion (USD2.1 billion), a near doubling over the and lowering the 943 945 950 928 30% previous year. The transaction momentum continued in Q1 2020. As of May vacancy rate. 895 903 901 2020, land transactions reached NTD17.6 billion (USD580 million), with Xitun 900 20% district contributing 82.7%. 850 10% TaichungTransaction City of and land Xitun and Tuncommercial District, propertiesland and commercial in Taichung property City and 800 0% transactions,Xitun Tun District 2017 (2017 to 2020-2020) (NTD) Xitun Ex-Xitun Land Commercial properties 1Q 18 1Q 18 2Q 18 3Q 18 4Q 19 1Q 19 2Q 19 3Q 19 4Q 20 1Q 2Q 20F 2Q 20F 3Q 20F 4Q 17.7 billion Source: Colliers International 17.0% Total: 2 billion 2017 Major demand sectors in 2019 Sources of new occupiers in 2019 67.6% by total leasing area by leasing area 33.2 billion 30.6% 2018 Total: 500 million Finance and insurance 36.8% 77.1% 22.3% 33.5% 65.4 billion 29.7% 29.9% Total: 9.8 billion Technology, Media and 2019 Telecom (TMT) 49.2% 21.4% Total: 1.7 billion 2020 17.6 billion 50.4% Manufacturing Outside New in Relocation Jan to May 82.7% 13.7% NCHBD Taichung within NCHBD Source: Colliers International Source: Market Observation Post System , Colliers International 3 COLLIERS FLASH COMMERCIAL PROPERTY | RESEARCH | TAICHUNG | 28 MAY 2020 The New City Hall Business District has become multi-centred and is on the way to becoming the Manhattan of Central Taiwan Taking reference from Taipei Xinyi Planned District, NCHBD is the most important neighborhood in Taichung City’s development plan. It started with retail and residential development, followed by the completion of city hall and city council buildings, well-planned amenities, and improvements to the transportation network. Next, high-quality office buildings and hotels were constructed. The NCHBD has become the political, economic, commercial and cultural hub, as well as the most international CBD, in Central Taiwan. Taichung City is going through industrial transformation and improved global connectivity, in response to the city’s latest development plan Rich Taichung, New Quality Life, which aims to sell and promote Taichung City’s industries through three main strategies: “front shop, back factory and free-zone port.”2 Also, accelerating the upgrade to Industry 4.0 and integrating the mechanical, optical, and electronic industries along the Mt. Dadu corridor to turn Taichung City into a “smart machinery city” are intended to further attract supply chain companies to enter Taichung, increasing the demand for office and commercial properties. We expect NCHBD to be the top destination and remain the largest prime office market in Taichung over the next five years. The increased demand not only boosted the quantity of office buildings, but also pushed developers to pay attention to building quality and facility provision to maintain building value.