Buy House In Taiwan
A land or building owner must pay land value tax or house tax. The burden of such taxes can be passed onto a person other than the owner via contractual arrangements, even though the owner remains the statutory taxpayer.
buy house in taiwan
Additionally, he posted a photo on his Instagram story writing that he wants to stay in Taiwan forever and will buy a house one day. He also posted a clip of him trying 50 Lan (50嵐) bubble tea for the first time.
According to Taiwanese media, Tzuyu bought a luxury penthouse in Kaohsiung, Taiwan for NT$100 million (approx. US$3.3 million). The penthouse was revealed to be 170 ping which roughly converts to 560 sqm or 6,030 sq ft. The penthouse is said to be on the 33rd floor with facilities such as swimming room and spa rooms.
Like acquaintances in a similar position, we are searching for homes ever further from the city center, since the house-price-to-income ratio in New Taipei is nearer 13:1. Ideally, we hug close to MRT stops for ease of access to our downtown workplaces. If not, we would be forced to embrace hour-long-plus commutes from satellite towns or mega suburbs like fast-growing Taoyuan.
The operating models for real-estate agents vary widely. Some work totally on commission, whereas others are paid a basic salary, with added commission income when they make a sale. Some agents are franchise operations, which may mean paying commission both to the franchiser and the franchisee after you have bought your house. So, buyer beware.
The Sanzhi UFO Houses (Chinese: 三芝飛碟屋; pinyin: Sānzhī Fēidiéwū), also known as the UFO houses of Sanjhih, Sanjhih pod houses or Sanjhih Pod City, were a set of abandoned and never completed pod-shaped buildings in Sanzhi District, New Taipei, Taiwan. The buildings resembled Futuro houses, some examples of which can be found elsewhere in Taiwan.[1][2][3][4] The site where the buildings were located was owned by Hung Kuo Group.[5]
The UFO houses were constructed beginning in 1978.[5] They were intended as a vacation resort in a part of the northern coast adjacent to Tamsui, and were marketed towards U.S. military officers coming from their East Asian postings.[6] However, the project was abandoned in 1980 due to investment losses and several car accident deaths and suicides during construction, which is said to have been caused by the inauspicious act of bisecting the Chinese dragon sculpture located near the resort gates for widening the road to the buildings.[5][6] Other stories indicated that the site was the former burial ground for Dutch soldiers.[7]
The Taiwan housing market has been volatile over the past few decades and has seen four major house price cycles: 1972 to 1974, 1978 to 1980, 1987 to 1989 and 2004 to 2016. The last Taiwan housing price crash occurred after an extended period of price rises driven by speculators anticipating that investments from mainland China would increase, uncertainty on the global financial markets and rising Chinese labour costs.
The housing market in Taiwan ranked 30th in terms of house price growth tracked by UK-based property firm Knight Frank in 56 countries during the second quarter with an 8.4% annual increase in house prices, up from 32nd place in the first quarter.
A survey by real estate broker Evertrust Rehouse in September showed a majority of respondents felt it was best to hold off on entering the Taiwan property market until economic uncertainty settles. The broker revised down its forecast for housing transactions to 315,000-326,000 units this year, down by 6-10% from its estimate in June.
The consumer price index (CPI) was 2.72% in October, down from a high of 3.59% in June. That high rate of inflation has pushed up costs for food, clothing, transport and other services, prompting some potential buyers to delay house purchases.
Whether house prices in Taiwan rise at a slower pace or start to decline in 2023 will depend on macroeconomic and geopolitical factors as the global economy faces a slowdown next year that could affect the Taiwanese market.
On this trip I had the opportunity to visit eslite Xinyi (誠品書店 信義旗艦店), their flagship store. Not only do they tout to be one of the largest bookstores in Asia, but the building also houses approximately 150 stores from Taiwan and around the world.
At that time in Taiwan, the average family could expect an income of more than NT$70,000 per month, while the house-price-to-income ratio was consistently less than 10 times annual salary, global housing price indices show. Across the nation, the house-price-to-income ratio was about 4.86 times annual income, while in Taipei the figure was 8.03.
However, people in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong have access to a large supply of government housing, which means that the house-price-to-income ratio in these areas is actually lower than in Taiwan.
Zhuang Genchao, a retired teacher from Taiwan's Jinmen Island, is enjoying retirement in a brand-new apartment. But it is not in Taiwan. He purchased a new flat in Xiamen in East China's Fujian Province, together with his son and daughter-in-law from the mainland and the couple's grandson. Zhuang Genchao, a retired teacher from Jinmen, lives in an apartment at Wujiang Diamond Plaza in Xiamen. Many of his neighbours are also from Jinmen Island. [China Daily] Daily, he greets his neighbours, most of whom are also from Jinmen, and chats over tea about their grandchildren and life in Jinmen. Like Zhuang and his neighbours, more and more former Jinmen residents are moving to the mainland, buying properties, such as apartments or storefronts, in Xiamen. It makes sense, since the mainland city faces Jinmen across the Taiwan Straits, and there is the shortest distance between the two sides. When the tide ebbs to its lowest the distance is only 1,800 metres. Since 2001 when direct ferry service connected Xiamen and Jinmen, more than 3,000 apartments have been bought in Xiamen by people from Jinmen, statistics from the Xiamen-Jinman Compatriots Association show. They are being used either as accommodations or for business purposes. In Jinmen, where its total population of around 50,000 is registered in 160 villages, the number literally translates into one suite per 17 residents. And like most Taiwan locals, Jinmen islanders prefer living in compact communities, Zhuang said. In Wujiang Diamond Plaza, a residential quarter in Xiamen where Zhuang lives, Jinmen residents account for more than 60 per cent of the 300 house-owners. Naturally, the quarter is known as "Jinmen Village" by locals. And in another residential quarter, Jinling Garden, some 200 apartments and storefronts have been purchased by Jinmen people, or about 70 per cent of the total. Most of the Jinmen home-buyer in Wujiang Diamond Plaza are elderly teachers and public servants who want to spend their retirement years in Xiamen. Many Jinmen business people travel frequently to Xiamen and have also chosen to own houses there. "I like Xiamen very much," Zhuang said, adding that, compared with Taiwan, it does not suffer from as many earthquakes and typhoons. "I feel so comfortable living with simple and honest Xiamen people... it's just like living in Jinmen because the two places have many similarities." Most of the Jinmen islanders are originally from southern Fujian Province, and speak with almost the same accent as Xiamen residents. The two places have many similarities in their traditions, food and drink, folk slangs and even names of places. Statistics show that so far there are about 5,000 Jinmen people residing in Xiamen, accounting for 60 to 70 per cent of the total Jinmen residents in Fujian Province. Xiamen has become the most important residence on the mainland for Jinmen people, according to many. However, due to restrictions placed by Taiwan authorities, Zhuang is only allowed to stay on the mainland for half the year, or his pension would be reduced, Zhuang said. Zhuang said he hesitated when he planing to buy his apartment due to the restrictions on stays. But considering the expensive housing prices in Taiwan and Xiamen's rising real-estate market, Zhuang now thinks he chose the right course. Educational advantages Apart from enjoying retirement, some Jinmen residents said education for their children was a principal reason for relocating to the mainland. As the quality of many mainland universities has been recognized by Taiwan people, more and more Jinmen students prefer to study at Xiamen University, one of their favourite choices. Zhang Yushan, a first-year student from Jinmen studying traditional Chinese medicine at Xiamen University, said that because there is no university in Jinmen, students have to travel to Taiwan Island or foreign countries for advanced education. Zhang also cited the two places' similarities in dialect and customs as one important reason for her choice. In addition, the cheaper cost for university study in Xiamen than that in Taiwan is also the reason many Jinmen students decide to study across the Straits. Strong identification "In my opinion, so many Jinmen people buy houses in Xiamen mainly because they have strong identification with their motherland," said Chen Jingwu, vice-general manager of the Xiamen Huaxiang Real Estate Development Company and developer of the Wujiang Diamond Plaza. Chen, who is also from Jinmen, cited himself as a good example. Ten years ago, Chen left his hometown of Jinmen when he was just 20 years old, and came to Xiamen to carve out a career. Later, he married a mainland woman and had two daughters, both born in Xiamen. "My love for Xiamen has deepened the longer I remained in the city," said Chen. He classified the modes of his colleagues' and friends' career experiences into three phases: In the middle of the last century, their grandparents sailed to Southeast Asia to earn their fortunes. In the 1960s to 1970s, their father's generation started their lifetime undertakings on Taiwan Island. For his generation and those following, most have turned their eyes to the mainland. Statistics from the Xiamen-Jinmen Compatriots Association indicate that Jinmen business people have invested more than US$1 billion on the mainland during recent years. In addition, the launch of direct Xiamen-Jinmen ferry services have served only to complement that economic activity, Chen said. A great number of Taiwan business people have traveled between Taiwan and cities on the mainland via Jinmen, which has changed it into a favourable passenger and logistics transfer centre. By the end of 2004, the Xiamen-Jinmen sea voyage had seen more than 500,000 people shuttling between the two places. Furthermore, the package tour to Jinmen opened at the end of last year by Fujian Provincial Government has allowed the island to become even closer to the mainland, said Chen. At the same time, Chen also attributes the success of his projects to his own marketing strategy. "Our sales have focused on Jinmen residents from the very beginning," said Chen. "The projects in my company are built for Jinmen people," he said. In early 2000 when Chen's company started the advanced sales for Wujiang Diamond Plaza, he went back to the middle school in Jinmen he used to attend, and promoted the project to his former teachers. Chen recalled the promotion was a great success that brought him sales of nearly 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million). A billboard advertising the project become the first billboard for Xiamen real estate projects in Jinmen. According to Chen, the house style of the Plaza is specially designed to cater to the tastes of Jinmen residents. Most apartments have fine decorations. Compared with the costly houses in Taiwan, the prices of the houses in Xiamen are reasonable for Jinmen home buyers, he said. For instance, a suite of 110-square- metre apartment with good decorations in the Plaza costs about 500,000 yuan (US$60,240). The price is acceptable for most Jinmen wage-earners, Chen said. With the success of Wujiang Diamond Plaza, he founded another real estate company and successively contracted three other projects in the city, measuring a total construction area of more than 100,000 square metres. And his target group is still Jinmen people, Chen said. "I have much confidence in the future of the two sides across the Straits," he said. "As the cross-Straits relations has been gradually improved, I believe my real estate market will have great potential." 041b061a72