My parents sold their house. Told me to use their share to buy another one. I said housing price is nuts, no way I can afford it with their share if I want to actually use it (not like rent it to others where it’s just going to be a source of more headache). Told him put the money into precious metal account at Bank of Taiwan instead. At least you won’t have to fix that one up because the water heater broke, or the roof is leaking, and no property taxes to pay (however low it would be).
If property taxes in Taiwan is based on market rate, and is charged like they are in California, I guarantee you there will be a property price crash as people are getting priced out of their own home.
I wonder if the eventual opening of the HSR station might rejuvenate interest if you can work in Taipei and in 15 min be in Yilan from Taipei main.
A side point, I inquired of banks for mortgage info once a few years ago and one of the top 3 banks told me they will provide a mortgage, even to a lowly foreigner, but not for an Yilan property.
Made me wonder if they figure it was overpriced there. That or the earthquake risk.
If you ever see a bit of news that a politician has started to sell his Taipei real estate the flood gates will open. Until then, the gravy train will keep going.
Getting harder but they are still buying, or trying. Some buy a little remote and rent it out and use the rent to offset the rent they pay in the city.
Gains from real estate have been higher than stocks in Taiwan so I don’t think the Taiwanese agree with you on this
I honestly thought about this, but seeing that rental yield in Taiwan is so shit, I don’t think there’s much good doing this. What are you going to get, 15,000 a month rent for a property that’s worth 12 million? If you buy remote you’re lucky to get 5000 a month to rent it. And keep in mind if there’s ANY problem with the building, you’re on the hook for it. Some of those repairs may be quite expensive.
Perhaps you could tell your tenant to fix their own problems in exchange for a massive rent discount… but that’s not doing much good either.
Move there for retirement. Rents are low in Taiwan relative to buying. One concern with renting is that as you get older it gets more difficult to find a place to rent, and you don’t want to be forced to move around. Having a place of your own to retire to solves that problem.
When income improves, sell and upgrade to a unit in the city.
It’s my understanding that this has been the case for the last 15 years. And parents here do help. More wealthy parents buy an apartment for their kids when they get married, have their first kid, etc.
I think the stock market is scaring a lot of people lately. But more than anything, all I can say is stand back and watch. The apartments will be bought, and prices will continue to rise (the general trend of prices, that is).
This has been the case for any Western European capital city since the 90s. Prices still keep going higher, partly due to demand (city has jobs) and partly due to general inflation/the currency losing value over time (which is by design btw).
Because 2% inflation is a good thing, it’s supposed to discourage saving and get people to spend, thereby stimulating the economy. Deflation is actually worse because it means nobody will buy stuff, making economies shrink and jobs getting cut, companies going out of business, and such.
The bigger problem is wage increase is much slower than inflation.
They’re probably paying cash for the remote property.
Mortgage payment is going to be a minimum of 2x rent for 30 years for that property. This is assuming you’re putting the minimum amount down.
Yes someone on the forum bought a property, and 20% down, mortgage payment being same as rent. But he also went from living in a managed building with elevators to an old gongyu without elevator. Rent for that gongyu would have been half his mortgage payment.
It is not first time buyers who are priced out, its the new comers to the big cities.
Most/all people who have family in the city simply borrow the money from the bank of mom and dad, who have millions in equity in their home and simply walk to the bank and take out a couple million and give it to the kids as down payment.
It is no different from any other large city in the world, if you or you family own a apartment in the city you can semi easily buy a new one or change the one you have - but if you are coming in to the city, well, then you are priced out.
In places like San Francisco existing residents are being priced out. Their home is worth over a million dollars, but they can’t afford the property tax (though California supposedly has a provision that prevents existing residents against property tax increase), they’re cash poor and can’t afford the electric bill.
You gotta stop with that nonsense that’s been explained to you multiple times.
Prop 13. Very well known. Not supposedly. Limits, doesn’t prevent property tax increases. Initial tax rate on change of ownership is 1%, with annual increases limited to no more than 2%. For long term owners, this has meant property taxes have been getting cheaper over time when factoring in inflation. For those over 55, you can also transfer the tax basis on a house to a new one.
So many first time buyers in my circle of friends. It’s really not that hard. 20 million gets you a decent place and you’d only need 4 million for the downpayment. But you don’t even need that now do you? A 10-15 years old studio in a good area in Taichung goes for less than 10 million, possibly as low as 5 million, if you’re persistent enough. You would need more only 1.2 million for the downpayment. Very much doable. People build up the wealth slowly, won’t happen overnight.
In California we have Prop 13, which caps property valuation increases, for tax purposes, at around 1% per year. So we pay just a little more in property taxes than we did 15 years ago, and our rate is around 1%.
Yeah, we would be paying twice as much in property tax if we bought now, plus much higher interest rates. Many new developments also have an infrastructure tax for a set period, usually 20 or 25 years. But with a more recent proposition, we could move sell and buy a home at a lower price and keep our tax valuation.
