TAIPEI: Taiwan Land Development Corp (TLDC) yesterday inked a deal with a Hong Kong broker to find buyers and retailers for a pre-sale residential project in Hualien.
The Taipei-based firm is developing 637 vacation homes on a 37,000 ping (122,100m2) plot of land in Hualien Bay, a fast-growing tourist destination.
“We intend to limit the sales of the upcoming apartments to members only, an unprecedented practice in Taiwan, but it is commonplace in other countries,” TLDC chairman Chiu Fu-sheng told a media briefing.
Prospective buyers are subjected to a review by a committee in order to guarantee the living quality of the complex under construction, Chiu said.
To that end, the developer has joined forces with Centaline Property Agency, a major broker based in Hong Kong, to help recruit prospective buyers and retailers.
TLDC is also developing a resort hotel, movie theaters, restaurants, fashion stores and other commercial space in Hualien Bay.
The developer has yet to finalize the pricing strategy for the vacation homes, which measure from 23 ping to 130 ping with an asking price beginning at NT$10 million (US$305,716), Chiu said.
Celebrities in the art, entertainment, film and other industries in Taiwan and Hong Kong have voiced interest, Chiu said.
Centaline Asia Pacific chief executive officer Addy Wong said more Hong Kong residents want to move to Taiwan, and last year a record-high 7,500 immigration applications were received.
Hualien is already popular among tourists in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The project might see the area rank as one of the most comfortable places for living and retirement after the government completes the Suhua Highway Improvement Project Wong said.
TLDC declined to speculate on potential profits from the home project.
The company posted NT$22.95 million in pre-tax income last month, a decrease of 25.82 percent from the same period last year.
For the first eight months, the developer accumulated revenues of NT$345.74 million, an increase of 14 percent from a year earlier, thanks to a land deal in previous months.
The deal allowed the company to book NT$190.58 million in net profit for the first half of this year, or earnings of NT$0.3 per share, according to company data.
That compared with net losses of NT$62.63 million in the first half of last year.
Shares in TLDC yesterday ended down 0.42 percent at NT$11.9 in Taipei trading, bucking the TAIEX’s 0.45 percent gain, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
