The nation’s unoccupied houses were at 10.5 percent last year, down from 10.63 percent seen in 2012, but higher than the approximately 5 percent seen in the majority of developed countries, suggesting Taiwanese like to buy real estate when managing wealth, a report by the Construction and Planning Agency showed yesterday
There were 856,924 “little-used” houses last year — as evidenced by their electricity consumption — down from 863,083 in 2012, the report found.
New Taipei City has the highest number of unoccupied houses at between 110,000 and 120,000 units — most of them apartments built in the past five years and with a floorspace of 20 ping (3.3m2) to 40 ping, the report said.
The districts of Tamsui (淡水), Banciao (板橋) and Sanchong (三重) have the greatest number of unoccupied houses at 9,700 to 13,000 units, the report said, as developers rolled out small housing units in those districts in recent years.
“Despite the decline, the number of unoccupied houses remains steadily above the 10 percent levels, higher than the 5 percent average seen in advanced countries,” Jinwen University of Science and Technology finance professor Chang Ding-hsuan said by telephone.
The figure was 10.15 percent in 2011 and 11.49 percent in 2009, according to the report.
The data suggest Taiwanese like to buy properties as a wealth management tool Chang said.
The phenomenon accounts for the prevalence of second and third homes in Taiwan, Chang said.
In Taipei, there were more than 60,000 unoccupied homes concentrated in Zhongshan (中山), Beitou (北投) and Daan (大安) districts, the report said.
Most of them are apartment units built in the past five years with a floorspace of less than 20 ping, the report said.
In Taoyuan County, where property investment has increased rapidly in recent years to take advantage of its imminent upgrade to a special municipality later this year, unoccupied houses are mostly found in Jhongli (中壢), Taoyuan (桃園) and Yangmei (楊梅) cities, the report said.
Tamkang University professor of industrial economics Chuang Meng-han (莊孟翰) said there are likely many unoccupied houses that are not on the government’s radar.
The construction agency defines a little-used house as one with an electricity consumption of 60 kilowatt-hours or less per month.
“It is easy to pass the threshold just by moving in a refrigerator or other appliances,” Chuang said by telephone.
The government can help bring down the number of unoccupied houses through the provision of tax credits for owners who are willing to lease extra homes, Chuang said.
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