The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment of the land law yesterday, which permits foreigners to acquire domestic land for individual use, investment or non-profit purposes.
The law amendment allows foreigners to purchase domestic properties such as homes, stores, factories, churches, hospitals, schools, cemeteries, embassies and offices, given that their investments are deemed to help domestic construction and economic development.
In addition, foreigners are allowed to purchase farm land if they have received permission from the authorities, the amendment said.
"In the past, foreigners were only allowed to lease or purchase land in Taiwan for individual purposes. Today's passage [of the amendment] is to carry out the proposals we reached during the Economic Development Advisory Conference," DPP lawmaker Lin Chung-cheng (林忠正) told a local cable TV station yesterday.
"It represents a breakthrough in the development of land administration systems in Taiwan," Lin said.
Government officials and business representatives had achieved a consensus on relaxing regulations on land use during the three-day economic advisory conference held in late August.
During the conference, participants generally agreed that opening up land purchase to foreign investors -- along with an idea to halve the land value increment tax for the next two years -- will help revitalize the sagging property market which has been suffering from oversupply in the past few years.
Chuang Meng-han (
"I think the government is trying every possible way to stabilize the property market, be it improving the investment environment, lowering land costs or providing privilege mortgage loans," Chuang said.
But reducing the land value increment tax by 50 percent is not likely to solve the over-supply properties problem as some had expected, Chuang said. "It is aimed to lessen the bad-loan stress on Taiwan's financial institutions."
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