I’m not sure. I think the real estate agent spin is to say they’ve dropped, in other words, buy now!! In any case, they’ve only dropped a few percent compared to the 100-150% rises… unless the govt places extra taxes on non resident buyers, like the uk govt is doing from April, it’s unlikely prices will drop. Plus most people have only got one property, so it’s not like they people sell up and make a killing because they still need another place to live, do really it’s the first time buyers who are the unlucky ones…
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Rich guy 
We paid 10k for our dinglou shared with between two roommates in xinbei shi. 5k each. Practically free.
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Tienmi prices have been dropping for years if I recall correctly . A lot of those houses are in bad condition. Linkou has had too many new developments and the slightly older ones are dropping faster than the newer ones. It depends on exact location in all these places.
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Oh I did that, too, earlier on. Never as low 5k, but close. That pricey one was after we had kids.
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There’s also not much development going on in tienmu. Actually not in Shilin district in general except for that art building. I mean it’s good for those who want to be in Taipei and not pay expensive rent.
Taipei is similar, actually-- living outside of the city is cheaper for those who don’t mind being further away from things.
It’s this for buying a house. Choose location wisely for appreciation, then use it for the next house purchase. This is how savvy landlords build their housing empires.
Was talking with a Taiwanese banker friend of mine this morning about this issue. She’s an expert in these things and disagreed with me about the effect of Taiwan’s population decline on housing values. She says her wealthy clients have nowhere else to park their money for the foreseeable future other than real estate in desirable areas so she expects prices in selected areas to keep rising. So rather than an overall decline in housing prices as I thought, prices will continue to rise in desirable areas while declining elsewhere.
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This double in profit also holds true for most major cities around the world from early 2000s. In LA we sold our house in 2002 for 280k now its worth 890k USD. If you bought in US, Thailand, China (tier 1 city), Cambodia, Australia or UK in early 2000s you’d see a nice profit today comparable or better than Taiwan and you could also rent out for more if you had to move.
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I had a 30yr fixed for my first property purchase because that was what everyone said you should do (and I didn’t know any better at the time)
…but how many people actually live in the same house for 50 yrs? I suppose it’s not a small number (and probably higher in Taiwan than US?). But my record is 4 yrs.
Maybe tt might make sense now with US mortgage rates so low
Yea well… 20-30 years is the most affordable option on monthly payments.
If you plan on living in a house less than 4 yrs you should probably just rent because no matter what type of loan you get especially the 5/ARM(Common in Taiwan) or 30yr fixed the first 5 years are almost entirely interest you’re not building much equity. US Banks front end load interest to make money off customers who move within 5 yrs. If a mortgage is 2500 USD a month, almost 1800 is interest only 700 is principle in year one…add pay property tax and 3-6% buying and selling realtor fees (in US). Youre likely to lose a lot of money on this transaction unless your home appreciates A LOT in 5 yrs.
30 yr fixed is an awesome wealth building tool for the middle class. If you need to move under 5 yrs rent out your house. Depending on the city the rent should cover the mortgage, property tax and home insurance (In the US). This is what I do with my house in LA. I pay 0 and someone pays my mortgage/property tax/insurance and gain the 20% appreciation over 4 yrs and pays my mortgage for me, Which frees me to rent Taiwan since my job moved here.
Anyways my point is you can’t do this wealth building formula in Taiwan with homes and mortgages none of the numbers work out and the rates are adjustable which is seen as risky vs a 30 yr fixed because with ARM eventually your mortgage will have to increase, or your rental terms will change, or you will be forced to refinance with uncertain terms or you will have a balloon payment. None of these surprises happen with a 30 yr fixed loan. Interest rates may be low in Taiwan but you can’t lock it in for more than 5 yrs.
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Are taking the down payment into account?
30yr fixed refers to the time that the interest rate is locked in. A 5yr ARM would be a lower rate but only guarantees the rate for 5yrs but the term is still 30yrs
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This is absolutely incorrect
You need to understand the difference between the length of the loan (20, 30, 40, 50 years, whatever) and the time that the interest rate is fixed (whether 30yr fixed or 5yr fixed)
At the end of the day, you pay interest on whatever money you owe. In a traditional mortgage, yes, most of the money goes to interest since, you umm, owe a lot of money. Don’t confuse this with the bank trying to rip you off.
It is absolutely correct, have you ever looked at the Amortization schedule of a 5yrARM 15 year Fixed and 30/Yr Fixed Mortgage while comparing interest rates?
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Of course I have
And yes, at the beginning most of your payment goes to interest.
Sorry, I edited my original post for further clarification
I never said the bank was trying to rip anyone off. Its just a way banks in the US make money vs banks in Taiwan (because they know Americans move more) which spreads the interest evenly across the length of the loan vs front end loading the interest. If anything the US method allows someone with extra cash to kill the length of the loan faster. If you had an extra 50,000 from a bonus or something and put it all into principle payment the 1st or 2nd year you could eat of many more years/months off the mortgage quickly vs year 20 of the loan as you would no longer need to pay the interest on the principle paid.
Anyways my whole point is 30/Yr and 15/yr fixed mortgages are a great tools which is not available outside the US
This thread has come a long way and been skewed towards the financial minutiae about the pros and cons of owning a house and how to do it.
I went back to the OP who is actually not that interested in the financial merits of owning a house. The original post seemed to be more about whether or not to conform to societal pressure, which makes owning a house the desired norm, and the psychologist benefits or drawbacks of owning or not owning a house etc.
Sounds like we’re talking in circles or focusing on different aspects of paying down a mortgage
But just to make things simple, the traditional 30yr fixed mortgage in the US refers to how long they will guarantee the interest rate. You can shave a couple percent off that if you’re willing to live with a shorter guarantee, like 5 years. And if you move every 4 years, then, there’s really not point in paying extra for that additional 26 year guaranteed interest rate lock
In Asia, what I’ve found is that they typically set the amortization life time of the loan (20, 30, 40 years, whatever) based on how old you are relative to official retirement age. So an older dude like me might only be able to get 15-20 years to spread out the payment while a younger person might be able to get as much as 40 years to spread everything out