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aiwan's Housing  
    
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Taiwan

         Taipei house

ugly, but more expensive than Tokyo's

   

New York Times, new briefing, 2023-12-5: many voters, especially those in their 20s and 30s, say they are weary of geopolitics and yearn for a campaign more focused on their concerns, like rising housing costs, slow income growth and narrowing career prospects.  Whom young people ultimately vote for — and how many vote at all — could be a crucial factor in deciding the presidential election.

 

economist / The world's most liveable cities in 2023
City liveability index, Mar. 2023   -   Taipei ranks world No. 65, Asia's No.14

score

cities in Asia

90+ Melbourne, Sydney, Aucland, Adelaide, Osaka(Japan), Perth, Tokyo(Japan), Brisbane, Wellington, Singapore
 80-90 Seoul(Korea), Hong Kong(Chn),  Busan(Korea), Taipei (Taiwan), Kaohsiung, Taichung
60-80 Noumea, Nantong, SuZhou, Beijing, ShenYang, Shanghai, etc
top 5 cities: Vienna 98.4,  Copenhagen, Melbourne, Sydney, Vancouver ... No.10 Osaka, Aucland 96
Score out of 100*  five categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

 

★  Taiwan VS. world least affordable housing market

The Least Affordable Housing Market,   2023-9-29
visualcapitalist.com/mapping-housing-market-affordability/

RANK Metro. Market Median Multiple
(median house price / median household income)
1 Hong Kong, China    (most expensive) 18
  Taipei, Taiwan (2023 Q2 ) 15.5
2 Sydney, NSW, Australia 13.3
  New Taipei , Taiwan (2023 Q2) 12.9
3 Vancouver, BC, Canada  12.0
4 Honolulu 11.8
5 San Jose  11.5

 

★  Real Estate Asia, 2023-11-27:  Taiwan real estate transaction volumes hit 5-year lows

Property investments plummeted by 60% in Q3 2023.  The market momentum in Taiwan’s real estate sector turned weak in the third quarter of 2023 with transaction volumes recorded at NT$15.4 billion, down 72% QoQ and 60% YoY, the lowest level in the past 20 quarters  msn.com/en-xl/news/other/taiwan-real-estate-transaction-volumes-hit-5-year-lows/ar-AA1kDViQ

 

★  comparison Taiwan's cities with world metropolitan

Demographia / Major Housing Market Ranked by Affordability,   2022 Q3

World Rank Metro. Market Median Multiple
94 Hong Kong, China 18.8
  Taipei, Taiwan (2022 Q4, pip.moi.gov.tw/v3/e/scre0105.aspx) 15.77
93 Sydney, NSW, Australia 13.3
  New Taipei , Taiwan (2022 Q4, pip.moi.gov.tw/v3/e/scre0105.aspx) 12.68
92 Vancouver, BC, Canada 12.0
89 L.A., USA 11.3
  TaiChung , Taiwan  (2022 Q4, pip.moi.gov.tw/v3/e/scre0105.aspx) 11.11
87 San Francisco, USA 10.7
  City average, Taiwan  (2022 Q4) 9.61
83 London , UK 8.7
47 Singapore 5.3
demographia.com/dhi.pdf      Taiwan gov. pip.moi.gov.tw/v3/e/scre0105.aspx

 

globalpropertyguide.com   Residential Real Estate Market Analysis 2022 2022-12-6
Taiwan's house price growth continues to accelerate, amidst robust demand buoyed by the ultra-low interest rate environment.  Lutheran home price index rose strongly by 14.77% (10.79% inflation-adjusted) in during the year to Q2 2022,  the biggest y-o-y growth recorded since Q4 2013.
Taipei is one of the world's most expensive cities. Taipei's house price-to-income ratio has risen sharply from just 6.4 in 2004 to about 15.8 in 2021– higher than most world metropolitan (except Hong Kong)

 

Demographia / Major Housing Market Ranked by Affordability   2020 Q3

Rank Metro. Market Median Multiple
92 Hong Kong 20.7
  Taipei 15.8
91 Vancouver, BC, Canada 13.0
90 Sydney, NSW, Australia 11.8
85 San Francisco, USA 9.6
83 L.A., USA 8.9
82 London , UK 8.2
50 Singapore 4.7
demographia.com/dhi2021.pdf     Taiwan gov.   pip.moi.gov.tw
 

Unmonitored speculation, low housing supply, and a long tradition of homeownership pushed house prices in Taiwan, particularly in the capital city, and particularly on high-end properties.   buying a home remains unaffordable for most young Taiwanese, a situation we don’t expect to change in the medium term,” said Emily Dabbs of Moody’s Analytics. An average household in Taipei needs to pay two-thirds of income for a mortgage loan, far above the affordable limit of 30%.
Taipei now vies with Monaco for the lowest yields in the world. Taipei is not a happy place to be a landlord. Currently, average rental yields in Taiwan hover around 1.5%.  Paradoxically Taiwan has one of the highest home ownership rates in the world at 87%, while social housing accounts for about 5% of households. And the trend towards home ownership is increasing. Because of this, Taiwan's rental market is quite small, around 8% of around nine million households.

 
 

Numbeo Property Prices Index by country 2023
comparison among Asian countries

numbeo.com/property-investment/rankings_by_country.jsp

world rank country Price to Income ratio Gross Rental Yield City Centre Affordability Index
3 Hong Kong 44.9 1.7 0.1
5 China 34.6 1.6 0.4
11 S. Korea 26.0 0.9 0.5
16 Taiwan 20.1 1.5 0.8
32 Singapore 15.5 3.3 1.0
72 Japan 10.3 2.5 1.7

 

  comparison among Asia's cities
numbeo.com/property-investment/in/Taipei

city Price to Income ratio Price to Rent ratio city center Loan Affordability Index
Taipei 29.68 87.01 0.57
New Taipei City 35.45 37.11 0.48
Taichung 17.77 53.61 0.95
Kaohsiung 12.49 47.37 1.28
Tokyo (日本) 12.65 32.18 1.41
Singapore (新加坡) 15.73 29.11 0.96
Shanghai (大陸) 47.11 60.75 0.27
Beijing 46.06 61.61 0.27
Seoul () 30.40 90.68 0.47

 

globalpropertyguide.com  

House Prices/GDP per Capita in Taiwan compared to Asia
globalpropertyguide.com/Asia/Taiwan/price-gdp-per-cap

rank

country

data

1 Cambodia  139.08x
2 India 93.39x
3 Philippines 92.29x
4 Vietnam  50.94x
5 Taiwan  48.70x
6 Hong Kong  45.19x
7 China 42.79x
8 Thailand 37.36x
9 Japan 23.63x
10 Indonesia 20.05x
12 Singapore 17.69x
13 Malaysia 13.25x
Taiwan does not publish official house price statistics. Sinyi Realty has quarterly and monthly house price indices. 

 

  China Daily , 2023-5-26: Taiwan people unhappy with DPP, polls show  Taiwan's residents are disillusioned with Tsai Ing-wen's performance and the DPP administration's reluctance to address important issues such as the income gap, affordable housing and unemployment.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202305/26/WS646fc82ea310b6054fad5234.html

 

  United Daily 經濟日報, 2023-5-20: The price index of houses in Q4, 2022 reaches 127.5, which increases 28% since Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016The prices of pre-sale houses increase even much more ( 87% )  The young people cannot afford buying a house, therefore more and more choose not to get married and not to have baby, which is called national security crisis (risk).  udn.com/news/story/7338/7177628?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub7338_pulldownmenu_v2  
  China Times , editorial , 2023-5-21: When Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, the house price-to-income ratio is  9.32, Mortgage Burden is 38.34%,the house price-to-income ratio in Q4 2022 is 9.61,Mortgage Burden is 40.25, showing an obvious upward trend.  As of April this year, the supply of new housing projects in the metropolitan area has decreased by about 10% compared with the same period last year, but prices have even continued to rise Given the low wages of young people in Taiwan, what kind of price and area "suits young people's ability" as Minister of Interior said? Single renters in Taipei spend an average of 35% of their monthly salary on renting a suite. How can they save some money to buy a house? The current unemployment rate among young people aged 25 to 29 is as high as 6.13%. Young people can't even find a job, let alone buying a house?   chinatimes.com/opinion/20230520003246-262101?chdtv   


 
China Times ,
editorial , 2023-5-19: According to governmental statistics, nearly 80% of young people's salary is to pay home loan, how can they have enough money to live ? DPP's 2024 presidential election candidate Lai (賴清德) gave a wrong saying to youngsters "house price is dropping"Minster Lin (林右昌) gave a tricky word : Young people can buy a house if they make planning or not to pick "high-price location".  chinatimes.com/opinion/20230519004400-262101?chdtv

 

economist / The world's most liveable cities in 2023
City liveability index, Mar. 2023   -   Taipei ranks world No. 65, Asia's No.14

score

cities in Asia

90+ Melbourne, Sydney, Aucland, Adelaide, Osaka(Japan), Perth, Tokyo(Japan), Brisbane, Wellington, Singapore
 80-90 Seoul(Korea), Hong Kong(Chn),  Busan(Korea), Taipei (Taiwan), Kaohsiung, Taichung
60-80 Noumea, Nantong, SuZhou, Beijing, ShenYang, Shanghai, etc
top 5 cities: Vienna 98.4,  Copenhagen, Melbourne, Sydney, Vancouver ... No.10 Osaka, Aucland 96
Score out of 100*  five categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

 

  經濟日報 United Dailyeditorial, 2022-10-2:  The government praising real estate industry is  "the shield to protect the country"(「護國群山」)" the engine of economic development" (「經濟發展的火車頭」) triggers anger of law-makers, scholars, and civil communities.  Taiwan's Ratio of house price to income (房價所得比) in 1st Qtr. rises to 9.58 which is 8.97 times of that in 2nd Qtr. 2016, and hits record high in 20 years. Mortgage Burden (房屋貸款負擔率) hits record high as well.  Besides, the housing rental index (住房租金指數) reaches 106.64  udn.com/news/story/7338/6655387?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub7338_pulldownmenu_v2   brief

  National Interest ,  2022-7-9:   Taiwan faces many internal problems. First, low wages and high housing costs are affecting the marriage rate and leading to decreases in fertility.    nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-china-cant-afford-attack-taiwan-203504
 

  <United Daily > editorial, 2022-3-27: In a seminar in National Cheng Kung University, 41% students chose to embrace  ‘Lying Flat’( lie around like a couch potato)...Soaring housing prices have become the biggest pain for young people...the real wage is pretty low...The central government is reluctant to promote the Taxes on Housing Speculators , and is passive and perfunctory to adjust the housing policy    udn.com/news/story/7338/6194409?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

 

  United Dailyeditorial, 2022-4-6:  Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen reneges on her main policy,  housing justice - failures on building social houses, and the housing price has been rapidly soaring...    udn.com/news/story/7338/6217258?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub7338_pulldownmenu_v2

 

  VOAnews ,  2022-4-1:  Taiwan's rising housing costs have also made it difficult for young people...
Today, even small housing units in Taipei can command prices exceeding $1 million,...housing prices across six cities including Taipei rose more than 30% between 2019 and 2021.  Much of the inflated prices in housing is fueled by the long running problem of property speculation in Taiwan and very little social housing.    voanews.com/a/survey-shows-young-taiwanese-lack-savings-are-highly-indebted-/6510937.html

 

  China Times, 中國時報 editorial , 2022-1-31 To solve the lowest birthrate (world lowest "Fertility Rate", 1.1, by The World Fact Book (cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/total-fertility-rate/country-comparison) ), the first thing is to reduce the financial pressure of the common people; and the most important among all is housing prices or rent price.  However, the more new restrictions by the Central Bank to curb rising housing prices, the higher the housing prices rise.  chinatimes.com/opinion/20220129003035-262101?chdtv

 

  New York Times ,  2022-1-21: At the time of the fire, the deadly "ghost building" had suffered years of neglect ... Piles of garbage had accumulated on lower floors and in the stairwells, which fire officials said had accelerated the fire’s spread and impeded rescue effortsThe blaze also highlighted the lack of support for poor and older people who are desperate for housing and often have no choice but to live in dilapidated buildings.   nytimes.com/2022/01/21/world/asia/taiwan-fire-ghost-building-suspect.html

 

   United Daily  經濟日報  editorial, 2022-6-25:  From Jan. 2021 till March 2022, the average housing price rose 11.5% ( TaiNan 21.7%,TaiChung 18.9%, Kaohsiung 13.3%)the most important factor is low interest rate in recent years...   udn.com/news/story/7338/6413909?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

 

  聯合報  United Daily2022-9-23: The government has not been very active on Tsai's political views declared during running for president - social housing construction  (1) electoral considerations,  not to offend the builders. (2) Encourage house purchasing (3) Not to spend money on “charity” (4)  Government values ​​entrepreneurs over civilians  udn.com/news/story/121823/6634051?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub121823_pulldownmenu_v2  

 

  New York Times ,  2021-10-16: The Kaohsiung building (46 killed in a fire) is one of many aging structures across the island that have fallen into severe disrepair as a result of weak management and government neglect.  Skyrocketing housing costs in Taiwan’s cities — and a rapidly aging population — have exacerbated these issues in recent years and have outpaced the government’s efforts to resolve them...  the lack of support for Taiwan’s rapidly aging population... older buildings that had been constructed under outdated safety guidelines were often overlooked   nytimes.com/2021/10/15/world/asia/taiwan-building-fire.html

 

  New York Times ,  2021-10-15:  At least 46 die in a Taiwan apartment fire...alarming safety conditions inside the building, including exposed electricity cables, corroded water pipes and heaps of detritus obstructing dark stairwells...Taiwan has a spotty record when it comes to fire safety. The tragedy on Thursday was Taiwan’s deadliest building fire since 1995, when a blaze broke out in a karaoke club in the central city of Taichung, killing 64 people... to raise questions about whether the self-governing island,... had overlooked basic safety concerns in the rush to develop nytimes.com/2021/10/14/world/asia/taiwan-apartment-fire.html

 

  《 Bloomberg》 ,  2021-7-1 (bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-01/taiwan-s-red-hot-housing-defies-challenges-from-covid-to-china?srnd=prognosis) : Taiwan’s Red-Hot Housing Defies Challenges From Covid to  the constant threat of invasion from China / Prices defy sale curbs, falling population, high vacancy rate, Covid outbreak slows deals, but low rates drive prices higher.   Taiwan home prices jumped the most in six years in the first quarter and may reach new highs by the end of the year, residential and office deals in Taiwan’s six largest cities surged 27.9% in April from a year earlier, smaller families are creating new demands, such as for small- and medium-sized apartments....The government is not bringing its ultimate game to fight the overly-hot market.  “The real solution for restraining prices lies in raising property taxes.”

 

  China Times, 中國時報 editorial , 2021-10-15 Behind the fire sea in Kaohsiung building (城中城) is the government's discrimination and indifference to those underprivileged group who can not afford buying fire-fighting equipments, the Kaohaiung city hall was not intend to purchase the equipment for them, and just gave them up and let them live their own lives.

 

  United Daily 經濟日報 editorial  , 2021-10-19The Kaohsiung apartment fire reflects not only the tragedy of the elderly living alone and low-income households but also the real estate marketing failure (The housing market is clearly oversupply, but the housing price-to-income ratio has risen ) and  gov's   not imposing house taxes, not establishing a sound leasing system, not working well on urban renewal,  not  revising the housing law, not imposing house tax version 2.0, and failures on social housing , apartment building management, land use zoning  control, housing justice, population policy, etc   

 

  China Times, 中國時報 editorial , 2021-11-29Since the assessed land value (officially announced land price) is much lower than the actual market price, the "effective tax rate" for  tenancy (real estate) in Taiwan is only about 0.1%, which is about 1/10 of that in the US, 1/4 in UK, 1/2 in Japan, or Singapore.  The number of Non - occupier owner (nature person) for real estate speculation increases 7%.   

 

China Times (中國時報) , 2021-4-18, opinion: The crucial reason that young couples are not willing to and do not dare to have baby is high housing price.  The legislative measure "tax version 2.0 (房地合一稅2.0)" was once called "nuclear bomb to high housing price", but actually promoted the price of pre-sold house and newly built house in Northern Taiwan (北台灣第一季新成屋、預售屋平均成交價全面走揚,基隆、新竹改寫歷史新高價,台北、新北及桃園則創下反彈以來最高點,北市每坪均價更暌違5年重返9字頭)。The point is driving interest rate down leads to higher housing price.   chinatimes.com/opinion/20210417003637-262101?chdtv

finance.yahoo , 12-30-2020, (finance.yahoo.com/news/retire-taiwan-costs-visas-more-215449948.html), SmartAsset  (smartasset.com/retirement/retire-in-taiwan

       purchasing an apartment in Taiwan, is significantly more expensive than in the U.S. An apartment in a city center in the U.S. will cost an average of $292 per square foot, according to Numbeo. In Taiwan, it costs an average of $761 per square foot to purchase an apartment in a city center.   When it comes to renting, Taiwan is still significantly cheaper than in the U.S. In the average city center in America, a one-bedroom apartment costs an average of $1,346 per month. In Taiwan, the same apartment costs about $485 per month. If you were to choose a three-bedroom apartment, it would cost $2,156 in the U.S. and $1,132 in Taiwan.

《China Times 中國時報》 , 2021-4-18, opinionYoung couples are not willing to and do not dare to have baby - the crucial factor: high housing price.    chinatimes.com/opinion/20210417003637-262101?chdtv   CIA, The World Fact Book (cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/total-fertility-rate/country-comparison), Japan Times, 2021-4-21: CIA estimates Taiwan's "Fertility Rate" in 2021 to be world's lowest.  Taiwan ranks No. 227, probably caused by many house-wives being busy in work as well as in household duties, according to Liberty Times 2021-4-20.  Japan ranks 218,  China 185, Singapore 225.

《United Daily》, 2021-6-17:  udn.com/news/story/7340/5537697?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2  Medical expert 楊志良 project found out:  under the circumstances of low salary and high housing price, it will be less and less marriage and child born。

SETNnews》,  1-1-2021 :

Ratio of house price to income The "Ratio of house price to income" (Q3, 2020)
rises again !
 

"Ratio of house price to income" of Taipei, 15.29,
means you should save every penny of your salary, and
spend nothing for 15.29 years
 to buy a house
in Taipei city

 Taiwan 9.19
Taipei (Taiwan) 15.29
New Taipei City (Taiwan) 12.16
Tai-Chung 9+
Chang-Hua 9+

《 China Times 》 12-5-2020:  editorial Taiwan's lawmakers can not give Residence Justice
       Taiwan's lawmaker
s have close relationship with construction companies.  Now those companies have been trying to rolling up housing price by all sort of means, the government's measures to cap rising housing-price (such as 「預售屋納入實價登錄」、「揭露售價至門牌」、「增加查核權與罰則」etc ) won't work as long as those lawmakers give slight influence to the issues. (brief)  https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20201204005012-262101?chdtv

 

China Times 12-5-2020:  Government's "phony" measures to blasts real estate speculation should focus on Property Tax, otherwise the administration's policy in this time is just a propaganda https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20201204005133-262105?chdtv周信佑》政府打房 只是打太極

 

《Apple Daily》editorial, Dec. 9, 2020
     
Rising housing price recently will make the rich are richer, but those youngsters struggling minimum wage even do not dare to have housing dream... today's Taiwan has been polarizing the differences between the rich and poor, the middle class is moving downward, not to mention the situation of service industry's furlough and being jobless is getting worse and worse.   tw.appledaily.com/headline/20201209/KPGCQUPML5FAXIRHL3ZDRXXPGY/

 

《 SET i News》 Dec. 4, 2020 :

world top 5  -  House price grows % world top 3  -  office & commercial building  rent grows % 
No. 1 Taipei Taiwan (台北) 3.4% No.1    Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (胡志明) 1.0%
No. 2 Seoul Korea (首爾) 2.3% No.2 Taipei  (台北) 0.6%
No.3 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (胡志明) 0.8% No.3  Seoul Korea (首爾) 0.2%
No.4 Osaka (大阪) Japan  0.7%, No.5 Shanghai 0.5% rent drops most - Hong Kong, New York

 

《United Daily - Economy Daily》editorial,  Dec. 7, 2020 : https://udn.com/news/story/7338/5071620

Ratio of house price to income Low interest rate environment is core factor to
drive Taiwan's housing price higher and higher

 

The

"Ratio of house price to income" of Taipei, 14.39,
means you should eat & drink nothing for 14.39 years
 to buy a house
in Taipei
 Taiwan 8.66
Taipei (Taiwan) 14.39
Kao-hsiung (Taiwan) 7.27
Tokyo (Japan) 5
Singapore 4.5

遠見 Dec. 2020:  Taiwan's house price is growing, if the government will not modify the tax system,  those measures (e.g.,「實價登錄2.0」) to cool off the housing market or to reduce property speculation,are nothing but "cure the symptoms, not the disease", the administration's policy becomes a "paper tiger" 。www.msn.com/zh-tw/lifestyle/other/房市買氣六年新高-行政院打擊炒房五大招-恐淪為紙老虎/ar-BB1bCCvk?ocid=msedgdhp

 

《Apple Daily》editorial,  Dec. 7, 2020 : Try to get an balance between "residence justice" and marketing mechanism.  The sharply rise of Taiwan's house recently is because the foreign money and the hot money have kept flowing back into Taiwan to hit history top.    https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/20201208/SPFEDEHQCBEVJAFQXESCWJW4JU/

 

world's most livable cities

Economist, EIU, THE GLOBAL LIVEABILITY INDEX 2022

Biggest movers down the ranking in the past 12 month

Taipei (Taiwan) ranks world No. 53 

  City Location Rank Index Rank Move Index Move
1 Wellington New Zealand 50  85.7  -46  -8.0
2 Auckland New Zealand   34  89.2 -33  -6.8
3 Adelaide Australia 30  90.7 -27 -3.3
8 Taipei Taiwan  53 85.1 -20  1.2

 

 

 

 

 

  pic.: UDN, headline news, 8-26-2019: still can't afford a house, salary remains the same as 30 yrs ago,