I’m kinda told about 80 percent loans but I’m not sold on buying properties here. The price is just often ridiculous even for properties that have issues. I see a dump advertised near tienmu for like 15 million. When I said dump I mean it has structural problems and is unlivable in it’s current state.
Who’s going to want to pay anywhere near the asking price for this piece of dump? You’ll need another 5 million or so (and that’s just looking at this one picture, I’m sure there’s more) just to even live here.
I get investment and all that but I could buy a freaking mcmansion in japan for this.
Listing says land area is around 26 ping and it only talks about convenience and all that, and possible future development.
Yea pay a million bucks to buy a dump that you know no one’s going to live in. You have to be a damn idiot to go for this.
Actually chances are you’re going to spend the listed price to make it useful as residence you likely aren’t, and so the place will likely be inhabited by squatters which you’ll have to sue to evict (more cost).
I’d rather see house prices come back down to reasonable values instead of decreasing required down payments to continue driving housing prices even higher.
Problem is housing price coming down might actually trigger a recession just like it does in china. A lot of people got their wealth tied up in real estate.
Could you elaborate on that bold part? Interesting! Especially if you happen to have the mandarin term for that “redecorating/renovation loan”. Would really like to read more into this, thanks for bringing it up.
My real estate agent called it a 裝潢貸. Specifically they refer to the 10% down thing as 8+1 because it’s 80% mortgage, 10% redecoration loan. I will know more in the next few days as we apply for it
Unfortunately the only way to really do this is probably make it harder to buy properties by making mortgage harder to get approved for, higher interest rates, higher property taxes (this will trigger a sell off), and in the end will make house purchase out of reach for the average person.
It may have a bunch of unintended consequences too.
When we bought our first place many years ago, we did about 10% down for the regular loan and got another 5% loaned to us at a higher rate to cover the rest of the deposit. I recall it was called “shing dai” but I just know how to say it, not the characters. The shing dai was repaid first, along with the interest on the main loan.
As I remember, the rate was a bit higher but not exorbitantly and it made the mortgage possible for us at the time. I believe in Taiwan you should buy as much house as you can afford because they’re only going to appreciate (we sold that one recently for more than 3x the purchase price).
I thought about it, but my current income isn’t enough to afford any homes even in remote areas. If I am loaning 80%, as a first time buyer, I’m looking at a minimum of 15 million NT for a property anywhere in New Taipei city (and I posted a few that is basically uninhabitable, but still cost more than a million US). This means I need about 3 million NT in cash (I do not have anywhere near this amount, working 7-11 isn’t going to get me there anytime soon). My mortgage payment will likely exceed about 40,000 a month.
For a property that fits my purpose that’s located in New Taipei City, I can rent that for 15,000 to 20,000nt a month. Why the heck should I buy it? 3 million NT will rent me a place that’s 15k a month for decades.
If I want to buy a property where my payments will be within the range of 15-20k a month, it will not be anything good. We’d have a max price of something like 8 million NT and those properties will not be any good. I’d have to put about half down or so, with a total mortgage of around 4 million and maybe a renovation loan of 1 million (so I can get 3 phase power to it and make modifications to that house that allows me to use it as a workshop).
Renting makes far more sense in Taiwan now.
Fact is most Taiwanese aren’t buying a house unless their parents paid the down payment for them. My dad was going to offer to do that, but I said his money is pathetic in terms of home purchase, and I’d be locked into a mortgage that I can’t afford. He decided to put that towards fixing up the house in Taichung that I’m registered to, and will deed his part to me once that’s done. It’s 1/4 of a 26 land ping building in Taichung. This way at least I have 25% deed to a decently sized 2 story house that I own free and clear. Property tax is like 1500nt per year.
This is why real estate price is so high, property tax is basically nothing.
You could buy a decent 6 million NT apartment in Lower Xinzhuang, get an 80% mortgage, plus a 10% redecoration loan, and your downpayment would then only be 600,000 NT. Over a thirty year period, your rent would be less than 20k a month. Or you could get a brand new stand-alone house somewhere in the countryside for like 7 million NT easy. One of my wife’s relatives got a 4 story standalone house, brand new, for 8 million NT in Yunlin.
Anyways even if I could save up (or ask my parents for) the down payment, I wouldn’t have the economic ability to service that loan. And if you missed payment, they’ll foreclose on your house.
Also I’m 100% sure that the house won’t be first floor. I need ground floor so I can do more than just live there, but actually have machines and such so I can have side jobs with it. My friend just spent 1 million US in a house in xinjhuan, whole building and all that, and spent probably another 8 million getting it ready for use. I think I’d get that building in Yunlin if I were to do that, assuming I can have jobs lined up there.
Yunlin has the lowest real estate cost in Taiwan by the way.
My dad’s house is in the city in Taichung, 15 minutes by youbike from a train station. I believe the worth per ping in that area is about 250,000 per ping.
Very low interest rates plus at least the primary mortgage interest is tax deductible. I guess they may put in different family members names and make them all tax deductible but I don’t know.
Still there are many mortgage slaves in Taiwan
You are talking about 20 years ago. 6 million ntd decent apartment in Xinzhuang? What is it 10 ping or something ?
Have you looked at prices recently?
4 story standalone house in Yunlin for 8 million…what part of Yunlin…what is the state of the house :).
Yea those two listings I posted, I seriously thought they were joking. Who’s going to pay a million bucks (US) for a dump?
And Xinjhuan isn’t cheap to buy, it’s cheap to rent. My friend spent a million US for a 2 story house, that isn’t even ready, have to spend another 10 million NT to get it ready for his use, but he’s putting in an elevator and all that.
Either you have to be very rich or very stupid to buy a house in Taiwan.
I think if I could come up with the down payment, I’ll buy a house in China. With the real estate crash it’s likely very cheap now.
My own quote - Buy as much house as your granddaddy can afford hehe
Classic sign of a housing bubble lol. Not everywhere has appreciated recently the top end has actually been flailing for quite a few years already. But mostly it’s gone up .
Only thing about Taiwan is the extraordinary length of the housing bubble. I think it’s a world record already could you find anywhere else that prices pretty much have gone up for 20 years ?
Global financial crisis, COVID, US interest rates shooting up …nothing stops it .
It’s all underpinned by very long long term very low interest rates and the extremely successful semicon industry propping up the govt finances and low tax regime…
