The limit for preferential housing loans for young people is to be raised from NT$5 million (US$151,212) to NT$8 million from today, Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said yesterday.
Chang said the government made the increase because the current limit does not meet the needs of home buyers due to high housing prices in urban areas.
The loan program is designated for people aged 20 or above who do not own a home. The government estimates that 7,290 households could benefit from the increase this year.
Citing data from last year’s third quarter, Chang said that residential properties in Taipei cost NT$616,000 per ping (3.3m2) on average, with a home measuring 25 ping costing about NT$15.4 million.
In New Taipei City an average residential property cost NT$320,000 per ping, with a home measuring 25 ping costing about NT$8 million, he said.
If home buyers are allowed to borrow up to 80 percent of the value of their homes, buyers in Taipei would need NT$12.32 million on average, while those in New Taipei City would need NT$6.4 million, he added.
Data obtained from the eight government-invested banks show that since the loan program was launched on Dec. 1, 2010, 35 percent of borrowers have borrowed more than NT$5 million, with the average loan at NT$8.15 million, Chang said.
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Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day