Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday.
About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said.
The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population.
Photo: CNA
“The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the balance of supply and demand in the housing market,” Great Home Realty research director Lai Chih-chang (賴志昶) said.
The phenomenon is evident across Taiwan’s six largest metropolitan areas.
Taipei had 116,000 elderly-occupied homes, up 71 percent from 2016, while the number in New Taipei City surged 108 percent to 165,000 — the highest nationwide, Lai said.
Taoyuan recorded the fastest expansion, rising 128 percent to 67,000 homes, followed by Taichung with 80,000 (up 111 percent). In southern Taiwan, Tainan’s elderly-only homes climbed 77 percent to 67,000, while Kaohsiung’s soared 91 percent to nearly 109,000.
A similar surge occurred in homes occupied by just one elderly person, government data showed.
Taipei recorded 89,000 such units, up 71 percent from 2016, while New Taipei City had 131,000, up 109 percent. Taoyuan again led with a 132 percent spike to 52,000 homes, followed by Taichung’s 60,000 (up 118 percent). The number of single-resident homes occupied by someone aged 65 or older also soared in Tainan and Kaohsiung, 84 percent and 95 percent respectively.
Lai attributed the acceleration to urban redevelopment, smaller household sizes and youth migration to new residential areas, leaving many elderly parents to live alone.
“In cities such as Taoyuan, Taichung and New Taipei City, new housing developments have coincided with a stronger trend of household separation, pushing up the number of elderly people living alone,” he said.
H&B Realty Co (住商不動產), Taiwan’s largest brokerage by franchise count, reported similar findings.
The rapid rise in single-resident households occupied by an elderly person underscores mounting pressure from an aging population and evolving family structures, H&B chief researcher Jessica Hsu (徐佳馨) said.
Growing demand for age-friendly housing — particularly units with elevators, barrier-free layouts and proximity to healthcare services — is set to reshape Taiwan’s property landscape, she said.
As younger people move out, elderly parents are increasingly left behind, fueling housing demand centered on elderly-friendly facilities and accessible living environments, she said.
With elderly people projected to account for more than one-quarter of the population within the next decade, developers and policymakers face growing pressure to adapt urban planning, housing design and community care systems for an increasingly gray society.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS