Was wondering what the public perception of housing prices is in Taiwan? I’m in Canada now and house prices here are just astronomical. What would be considered a simple detached “starter home” say 10 years ago goes for over a million in some places.
Taiwan obviously has much less space, so it would seem that housing and house prices would be a big issue. Is it? In Canada, housing as an issue is pervasive in the public consciousness and will probably be the central issue in the upcoming election. It doesn’t seem to be quite like that in Taiwan. But is it a big issue? Do young people have any hope of becoming “homeowners” (define this in whatever way you want) or is it viewed as hopeless as it is in Canada?
Everything you said about Canada relates to northern Taiwan.
You can find decent priced apartments elsewhere around the island.
Search this forum using “housing” and there are many threads to delight you.
It isn’t a huge issue here, I think, because Taiwan just had an election and cost of housing didn’t play a huge role. We did learn that many politicians own a lot of homes, not including what is in family members’ names.
One reason is that, outside large city centres, rent is reasonable. This is because there is an oversupply of housing here, lots of empty units. There is also a culture of multigenerational families here, so people are happy to live with their parents who take care of everything for them. Those homes will pass down. I think it does discourage marriage, because people don’t want to live with inlaws, but the love motel business is doing well.
People here are also happy to accept accommodation that many Canadians would not. Mouldy bathrooms, rented “suites” that are basically unserviced hotel rooms, taking a room in a shared apartment with strangers in the other rooms. If you don’t want a proper apartment with a bedroom and kitchen, accommodation here can be quite cheap. So cultural expections play a big role
Real estate here has also for a long time been a popular destination for investment. Really, the situation here hasn’t changed drastically, and homelessness isn’t a big issue. The population here is falling, but new apartment buildings are always going up.
Compare this to Canada, where a generation ago affordable housing was widespread. The population in Canada has surged, in addition to foreign students who were over a million alone last year. Canada is also overregulated and people are more likely to oppose new developments in their neighborhoods (NIMBY). So, Canada is facing an undersupply and even renting is now expensive. Add to that the higher COL in Canada overall which makes building harder for developers and makes life harder for people that spend most of their money on rent with no way out.
Going off-topic: my mother was commenting on this the other day. They live in a Vancouver suburb, and obviously they’ve seen housing prices (and basically their own wealth) skyrocket. But she was reminiscing about when she started working in the early 1960s, and for a year or two she lived in a boarding house - which I don’t think really exist anymore? Options that I suppose would be affordable, but due to some combination of culture and perhaps different rules, are no longer out there.
Of course, that’s going back a few generations, not just one.
Housing in Canada isn’t expensive and isn’t not expensive. Same thing with Taiwan. It is both simultaneously expensive and inexpensive. It’s too difficult to generalise an entire country.
Housing markets vary between neighbourhood to neighbourhood. You need to find out and do your calculations/homework based off that. Not all land is valued equally and Taiwan’s size has little relevance. If you can get a good paying gig in Timmins, then you will think housing is cheap in the same way if you get a good paying gig in Sanzhi. People don’t want to live in those areas. There are high demand areas and low demand areas that have dirt cheap housing.
If you can maintain your standard of living and buck a few trends, you’ll save big no matter where you are.