Buying farmland in Taiwan (sources)

Legal Legal - Real Estate & Housing
1

Hi guys,

I am looking for information on farmland prices in Taiwan but I struggle quite a lot to find existing offers.

I found that speculation from investors on farmlands to use it as real estate programs has increased the price dramatically. From some random and doubtful research on real estate agencies I found something like: 2 ha (20, 000 squared meters or 6,000 ping), 25 km away from a big city at NTD 6m (USD 300,000), which sounds impossible for me and I cannot imagine how a farmer can buy that and amortize it selling cabbage and rice.

Do you know where I can find realistic offers? In English or Chinese, maybe from local newspaper? Local law firms? administrations?

What I am looking for doesn’t need to be very close to a big city, I am just looking for something cheap on the west cost. This would be for a family organic farming activity with only the family living on the land. I would be ready to defend the project to local authorities and fix several law and regulation barriers.

Thanks for your help.

4 Likes
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Are you Taiwanese?

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For your reference, foreigners cannot buy farm land.

As for prices, farmers do not buy farm land as these high prices. They can rent farm land at low prices. But I must say I am using my small amount of knowledge from living on east coast.

Around my farm land there are loads of farm land for sale. Problem sometimes is if the land is split into small plots (756 ping minimum for building farm house) they are usually looking to sell to someone for building a house so price is high.

4

How much 黑金 you got hidden in your saddlebags, cowboy?

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5

Your math is off by a little over $100000.

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Hi, nope, pure foreigner. I understand that it might be more complicated but at this stage I would like to get a better view on the price market on farmlands in Taiwan. Depending on the feasibility, administrative and law aspects will be assess too :slight_smile:

7

Yeah. Foreigners can’t buy farmland.

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OK thanks for your feedback, it is quite useful :slight_smile: regarding the feasibility to buy farmland as foreigner I am not super concerned, there in always some ways to do it (in a legal way of course, I meant like associating with a local, building a project and propose it to authorities etc) it’s just going to be more costly for me than a local

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Haha I didn’t mean anything illegal eh, just in most times, if you were your plan as an innovative project, public interest, or associate with companies specialised in corporatism for foreigners, there are ways to face the administrative difficulties, it’s just a bit more costly than for a local people

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Yeah the point is, thin are not acceptable prices to be awortivod with a farming activity lol. It is only for real estate projects… It sounds like in Taiwan the lands have not been protected well enough and now the market for farming lands is a bit messed up…

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The problem is, is that it has to be in a local’s name. That can put you in a vulnerable situation where they can exclude you from deals and simply claim to not know you etc… If your name is not on the land, you might not have ANY rights whatsoever.

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Haha indeed but for that there are legal structures. At the end I clearly understand that a foreigner might need a reputable and pricey lawyer

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That’s the thing, It’s 100% unequivocally illegal for foreigners to own land and you might encounter raised eyebrows at the very least when you’re trying to propose things to city planning officials. Trying to get around this might cause you serious problems and not likely worth it.

But… I ain’t your mother and this isn’t a crime.

Legality and difficulties aside, to answer your original question.

image
image2443Ă—1858 935 KB

You can go to www.591.com.tw to see listings.

Green circles you should click. Blue is city/county. Red is district/county city/town/township.

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14

What’s your budget and what’s your target size of land in Ping?

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Thanks Marco for your advices, I meant that I could live with a legal structure where a local buy the land and lease it to only me for 50 years as example.
Thanks again for your website suggestion

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Hi, sorry it wasn’t clear enough in my post, I am looking for at least 7,000 ping for less than NTD 15 per ping

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Once you dive into it, you might find yourself speechless every other day. So many things to discuss.

But on prices, they are insane now and your are right. No one buys land to grow rice anymore.

La d is normally sold by the fen and legally it is measured in square meters. Price per fen now can maybe be as low as 600,000/fen. Most of the cheaper areas, like Taidong, Pingtung, Chaiyi are now mostly over 1,000,000/fen. Most is in the 1,000,000-2,500,000/fen range. This isnt in the city. Note you will need at least 2.5 fen to be allowed to build. You will need your household registration in the county you are building in for at least 2 years. You will need a Taiwanese ID to buy the land and build the house.

Land used to be cheap a decade ago. Easy to find 300,000/fen, even 200,000/fen. I bought my first land at 500,000/fen about 11 years ago.

Aboriginal land leasing is common. But riddled with problems, be warned…

PS. 2 ha will never be sold for 6m. Quite often that price would be a lease. 2ha for 15m is more likely. 12m if you’re lucky. If its 6m, there is a problem you’re not seeing.

Farm rental rates average at 3000-6000/fen. Depends on things like rocks, roads, water, services and local market. When exports open up, price goes up. I pay 3000& 4000 per fen for all my farms. Renting from government, military or Taiwan sugar is cheaper, but absolutely foreigners cannot sign the contract.

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Many thanks for your feedback, it goes with my understanding… Even 200k per fen is quite high for Taiwan economy. In France you can buy farming lands for half this price still today so this benchmark is quite bitter haha

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Yes, land price is higher in Taiwan than most western country. In that there is no cheap land, not that it is the most pricey.

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So, why do so in Taiwan if many other places cheaper, and probably in nearby Asian countries? What makes Forumosa [sic] so special?