Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world’s biggest property services firms, has opened its first office in Taipei as it expands into Taiwan.

Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world’s biggest property
services firms, has opened its first office in Taipei
as it expands into Taiwan.

This is the sixth new Asia-Pacific office that the firm has
opened in the past 18 months, Sanjay Verma, chief executive at Cushman & Wakefield for the
Asia-Pacific region said in a statement.

“I strongly believe this new office will help us further
increase the depth and breadth of our service offerings to our global clients
and provides us with the opportunity to leverage Taiwan's expanding economy which is
one of the important economies in Asia Pacific,” he said.

Randall Hall, executive managing director for Greater China
said: "We have opened an office in Taiwan because our clients are
there and they require integrated service offerings. This trend is set to
continue. With a population of nearly 23 million and projected GDP growth rates
of 3 – 5 per cent over the next few years, the Taiwan economy will have a growing
prominence in the region.”

The firm has appointed Jack Lin as the managing director of Taipei office. Previously,
he was managing director of Taiwan Sotheby's International Realty where he set
up the luxury residential brokerage business. Steven Chen has also been appointed
as the director of agency. He has more than 16 years' experience in the real
estate industry and was previously at Savills.

According to Cushman & Wakefield's latest research
report, Office MarketBeat, the Taipei
office leasing market has picked up and been quite stable through the first
quarter of 2013, after a year of economic challenges and soft growth last year.

The demand for office space has been improving in the
beginning of 2013. New lease activity and absorption have been modest due to
many occupiers opting to renew their space. But small to medium-sized
multinational occupiers are keen to reduce costs and this has spurred some
relocations, notably to some non-CBD locations. As a result, there has been
moderate growth in Grade A rents in non-core areas, the firm said.