Buying property in Taoyuan/Hsinchu as a foreigner

Legal Taxes
,
1

I just got my Gold Card and am working in the Hsinchu Science Park.

I’m interested in buying an apartment either in Hsinchu or Taoyuan. My family in my home country would be joining me around July, at which point we would need a 3 bedroom home at a minimum.

For now, I need a small apartment (one room/studio) with good resale value and good rental prospects, with a rental yield of >3-4%.

Budget for now is about NT$4-5M. I either buy a small 1 bedroom apartment + the larger one later, or the large one now if I am confident it is a good investment and our future in Taiwan is secure. I am partial to the former, because I do not know the areas so well and am a bit concerned putting down a lot of money at this stage.

Based on the minimum acceptable rental yields, the budget for a small 1 room apartment that rents for about NT$5K a month would be NT$2M.

I would be commuting every day to the Hsinchu Science Park, so the apartment should also be within driving distance to the Science Park, preferably with car parking.

Can anyone recommend areas, or types of buildings to look at? I’m looking for properties with good buy-to-let prospects and price growth. I understand that Taoyuan is becoming a commuter town to both Taipei and Hsinchu.

I’ve seen some ads for one room apartments in multi-storey buildings the rural areas (like next to the National Central University). They have lifts, security, and sometimes are next to a university. Are they worthwhile investments? It seems to me that there would be a stable source of rent but the sale and rent prices would be fixed by all the other apartments in the building. How have the rental and sale prices of these properties fared over the years - do they match inflation?

I’ve also seen other ads for apartments close to the Christian University, but the roads there seem narrow, with little parking, and some of the apartments are on the 4/5th floor of a building without a lift.

What will be the Capital Gains Tax implications if I go with the latter option (small 1 bed property for myself now, later on buy a 3+ bed property, and rent/sell 1 bed property?)

2

Following… any reason you do not rent and see how you and your family like it here first?

3

Depends when you sell. The longer you wait, the lower it is. It can be partially or wholly refunded if upgrading.

4

Company has been sending me on an almost annual basis to Taiwan for a few months at a time. I know I like it here.

Wife was recently made redundant, economy at home is not doing well and so we decided to come as a family now.

We have that much, and more, sitting as cash in the bank. It is being eaten away by inflation so we are eager to spend (or more correctly, diversify).

2 Likes
5

may or may not be relevant… which nation you hail from?

6

Are you able to find anything in the NT$4-5M range in Taoyuan for 1 bedroom? That’s quite a low budget

1 Like
7

Not idea idea in Taoyuan but here in Taipei rental yield are more of 1%.

1 Like
8

NL.

image
image1182×377 110 KB

That’s why I think Taipei and Hsinchu are overheated.

9

What kind of requirements do you have for a house? I’d be happy to help look for you when I have some time.

2 Likes
10

Thank you Marco.

Overall requirements, ranked in order of importance:

  1. Apartment should be ready to move in - no mold, wall cancer, leaks, etc.
  2. Good neighborhood - not too busy, not polluted, not right next to the highway, amenities, not in an industrial zone, good employers nearby
  3. Good potential for sale price growth over the years
  4. 3-4%+ rental yield
  5. About 30-40 minutes to the Hsinchu Science Park
  6. Car parking
  7. A lift in the building, if the apartment is higher than the 2nd or 3rd floor
  8. About 40 minutes to Zhongzheng District, Taipei
  9. Potential for expansion (more rooms) plus a man-cave, so either a garden, exclusive use of the top floor, or a toutian.

The 1 bedroom apartment is intended to be a bachelor pad for convenience to work. It is an optional purchase although I prefer to stake a smaller amount of money first in real estate and get to know the areas better, before buying the 3+ bedroom home. I am prepared to skip this option entirely if a 3+ bedroom home that meets all the above criteria may be found.

The 3+ bedroom home is intended to be for when my family move over. It would be nice if there is space for a second car as I don’t see the Missus driving a scooter.

11

That you might need to check in person. I can show listings of things I see but mould is not something that comes up in pictures well.

I can find listings that look like they suit your needs but you need to go and visit them if in the country.

12

Agreed. The OP needs to go looking for a mortgage. Doubt it’ll be too hard to convince the banks to give him a mortgage equal to 40-50% of the property value, considering he is working in the Hsinchu science park.

13

There are professionals that you can hire to do a comprehensive check before buying. It’s strongly suggested for older apartments. It’s also worthwhile buying in a building built by a company with a good reputation as they hold value better.

14

Be prepared to pay. and forget rental yield, it’s crap in Taiwan no matter what. Only way rental yield will go up is if income goes up, or if property value go down. It does not make sense to buy in Taiwan at all.

Especially the locations you chosen is going to be probably second most expensive in Taiwan, xinchu science park area is extremely expensive as it’s full of TSMC engineers making big bucks.

15

Yes it does. Everyone’s situation is different. Every neighbourhood has different market conditions. Taiwan is not only Taipei City Proper.

It is disingenuous to suggest such a oversimplified black and white image of the entire country while ignoring the numerous nuances.

6 Likes
16

Taipei city is the most expensive, with homes costing upwards of one million USD. New Taipei city/beitou district is a bit cheaper but not by much. Even new Taipei city homes will cost about half a million USD.

591 has tables out there listing the cost per ping for homes in a given area/neighborhood, and even Taichung city, Taiping district (which is one of the cheaper areas of Taichung) is over 250,000nt per ping.

Due to the pokemon activity of wealthy Taiwanese who uses real estate as a means to park their wealth, home prices are extremely high and there is zero will to change that. Unless you are buying homes in parts of Taiwan nobody wants to be in, you are going to be paying, and Hsinchu is up there in terms of price per ping by the way due to TSMC engineers living there.

At the same time rent is still crap compared to the value of the property. A property selling for half million USD in new taipei city rents for 15,000nt a month. At that rate you might as well rent.

By the way average home prices in the US seems to be around 300,000 US, with San Francisco and Manhattan skewing up the average, but there’s nice homes to be had at that price there… transportation, healthcare, etc. is another problem however. If you don’t mind living in shit areas you could easily afford homes for less than 100k but you might have to do some work…

Thing is I seen someone buy a home in New Taipei that still required a lot of work for 1 million US. Tell me that makes any financial sense at all.

1 Like
17

This is horrible financial reasoning. Buying property is attractive because of mortgage. You buy with someone else’s money, make profit and then pay back the loan.

2 Likes
18

Taipei is not Taiwan.

Taipei is Taipei.

Taiwan is an entire country.

So? That doesn’t make a bad or good price. It depends on a number of factors.

I bought in Danshui no problem. Since you are now using US dollars. I’ll use US dollars.

$200 000. I bought. I’m not a TSMC engineer. In a desirable area. I don’t live in the middle of bum fuck nowhere.

He wants to buy to live. It’s irrelevant.

Irrelevant. The US is a country with many many markets.

Congratulations, you have realised something that exists everywhere. They’re called tradeoffs.

I bought mine for $200000 US. Explain that. It’s perfectly livable in the state it’s in.

You’re wrong. Your post wildly misleads the poster.

I’m not in the middle of nowhere. I’m 3 km from the Taipei border.

image
image1359×777 153 KB

Tell me with a straight face this is a shit area. Your words.

Your post contains numerous conjectures and exaggerations based off hearsay and is not backed up by the truth. You’re wrong.

6 Likes
19

So you paid less than 10 million for a property in new taipei city, what tradeoff are you accepting?

That price is unheard of. Every property up north is advertised for at least 15 million.

20

Short term it seems logical in Taiwan, but long term almost everyone who buys a property makes more money than renters. Unless the renter successfully invests the difference between the rent and the mortgage.

2 Likes