Was looking in Pingtung, saw housing costs much higher than Japan for a like area (Nara City Japan single house NT$2,300,000/ US$69,000). In Pingtung it would cost 2X or 3X more but salaries are lower. Do you think long term prices will drop if I wanted move out of the city to there to a bigger house a few years from now, as PingTung has a population drop?
Not the way Taiwan has been going for the last two decades . That Japan price is really ā¦noā¦superā¦cheap.
How about finding a run down house and doing it up ?
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How about tearing down a house and rebuilding it with insulation?
(Actually, donāt do that. There are a number of houses that were built while I lived in Kinmen only a few years ago that have now been torn down to make way for even bigger houses/apartment blocks that will inevitably sit empty. The entirety, 100% of the housing market here is absolute bullshit and sooooooo bad for the environment and also over-priced. Just run away)
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Well hard find one a s cheap like this in Pingtung, better of going back to Japan at the current prices. (its odd construction costs seem higher in Taiwan with lower labour costs)
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My guess is that Taiwan is going to continue to have sky-high housing prices for the next 20-30 years, then experience a collapse in values like nothing anyone could ever imagine. More homes will never become available, though, because theyāll all be great great grandmaās property that one lone family member doesnāt want to sell, so it will sit and rot and Taiwan will look even more like a post apocalyptic land than it does nowā¦
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Is it possible many of these houses are falling apart because they are made of wood and fifty years old ?
Or do you think they could be fixed up easily and habitable ?
That house seems to be in okay condition from outside except for the weird garden or whatever that is. Itās got four rooms probably basic , maybe one bathroom only but stillā¦
Iām honestly shocked at the price of that including land around it as well !
I heard that rural Japan is suffering severe depopulation so I guess that is the driver.
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That house is probably buried under a few metres of snow from what we have been seeing of Hokkaido weather in the past few days - definitely needs insulation and heating !
Like the Price though.
Pingtung will probably keep going up due to kaohsiungs huge transformation as well as tainans tech boom. With more infrastructre being built, even higher. Only areas that are doomed, such as areas that are sinking (eg. Linbian) will stay less expensive (still way way over priced).
I only see 2 things bringing prices down. China invasion or complete collapse of the economy for mnay years. Perhaps a nuclear diasaster. Otherwise, expect to pay out the ass for very little 
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I think Pingtung prices will increase as the local governments invest in infrastructure, as people start to think of it as less busy than Kaohsiung, as people are convinced itās closer to south beaches and fun, as they try to improve air quality, and as more and more shops and malls move in.
And technology parks expand.
There is also an airport that may someday again be useful.
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Japanese-American buddy whoās lived in Japan for decades says housing in the countryside there is outrageously cheap, because 1) aging population (young people flocked to cities), 2) no one wants to live there. However, he says there are so many deals (government grants, etc.), that if you look easy enough (not hard) that you can find super-cheap land. Heās sold his Tokyo flat and has found a place in the countryside (can speak language, naturally) in a small town of a couple 1,000 people.
Yeah, Japan is super-cheap in many areas outside the huge metropolises, and of course transportation is grand. He also quoted prices of fruits and vegetables in rural Japan. Very very very cheap, like as in south/east Taiwan prices inexpensive
Where you want to live in Pingtung? Just the city or in some of the other places.
Wake up, @TimesThree. Someone is asking about your environs.
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Taiwan needs to pull a Japan and highly tax vacant homes. Watch the family members all come to agreement suddenly.
Speculation will drop significantly.
They wonāt because that would be political suicide
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I own a custom built home on seven acres in rural Japan and my property taxes are 1,000 USD a year whether Iām there or not.
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Thatās still about 1/5 to 1/10 the taxes of my parentās farm (for nearly same acreage), depending on if they rent excess land to farmers for crop usage.
I should have specified, I believe it was Kyoto that is starting a vacant land tax now.
Personally I think a vacant home tax should apply on any home that exceeds 1 for personal use to prevent the speculation we see in Taiwan
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That house is in Obihiro in the Tokachi sub-prefecture. I know Obihiro well as my house is in the countryside not far from there.
I prefer the smaller towns and villages nearby such as Mikage, Shimizu, and Shintoku, all of which have vacant houses and incentive programs for new residents. What I donāt like is those houses generally are on treeless, urban lots with no real character. If you want rural living though a problem is foreigners canāt buy land zoned for agriculture so that generally limits them to cities. I was able to buy rural property because itās zoned forestland, which foreigners can buy, and is bordered by agricultural land so itās wooded and private.
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May I ask if you are married to Japanese, or how were you (as foreigner, non-Japanese citizen) able to buy land?
Did you have residency there before? Do you still have it? How are you able to enter the country now (if at all)? (thx)
Not married to a Japanese. I was able to buy land on a tourist visa because I paid cash. Apparently I was the first foreigner not married to a Japanese to do so in the Tokachi sub-prefecture because the local authorities had to figure out how to handle the legalities. My neighbors told me my case was actually reported in the local media at the time. The local government was quite supportive but Iāve heard itās become more difficult since then because laws were passed to keep Chinese citizens from buying up rural land in Hokkaido.
I actually received my certificate of eligibility for a business visa just as Japan closed down and wasnāt able to travel to Japan to complete the final steps to receive my visa. Iāll have to reapply for a current COE now. Since Iām not a legal resident yet I havenāt been able to return to my house for over two years now and my neighbors are taking care of everything for me, including registering and maintaining my car and making sure all my bills are paid.
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Thatās great. Up in Hokkaido you say?
Have a close Taiwanese friend who travels there often (multiple times each year pre-COVID). Heās looking for an apartment on the island himself (as heās come into some money due to real estate sale in Taiwan).
He mentioned a few summers ago (pre-COVID) that some language school up there was offering huge incentives for foreign families (like his Taiwanese family) to study at local college for Japanese language. Offered dorm rooms nearly rent-free (during summer language program), with food, etc. He, his wife and 2 children did it.
Yeah, all kinds of financial deals apparently that local communities can offer. Just have to find them.
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That would be the language school in Asahikawa. Is your friend in the music business?
No. Actually a teacher. But he was able to travel a lot (pre-COVID), because of his wifeās job. They went to Japan so many times. His children are ādecentlyā fluent in Japanese from such experiences and from taking Japanese in Taiwan from private tutor (or school).
He has the money to diverify away from Taiwan a bit, and Hokkaido is where he wants to buy a getaway place.