More effort needed on rents
According to the latest official statistics, between 2002 and last year, Taiwan’s overall housing price to income ratio grew by as much as 178 percent, while the average annual income for people aged 25 to 29 grew from NT$30,133 to NT$34,217, an increase of only 15 percent.
In Taipei and New Taipei City, where job opportunities are more plentiful, the average rent for a studio apartment is NT$1,686 and NT$1,172 per ping [3.3m2] respectively, real-estate price comparison Web site Ubee data showed.
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics last year reported that people aged 20 to 24 earn an average of NT$27,635 per month. To enjoy a decent living space when they get home from work — a 10 ping studio apartment in Taipei or New Taipei City — these people would be spending 61 percent and 42 percent respectively of their salary on rent.
The deadline to apply for the Ministry of the Interior’s monthly rent subsidies for single people and newlyweds passed on Friday last week, and local governments will next month start informing applicants of whether they are eligible. I thought much about this after I sent in my own application.
Rent subsidies are only a temporary fix. If the government wants to reform the property market, it will have to invest a lot more resources and energy into the issue.
Whether it is because of information asymmetry in the property market or landlords purposefully withholding detailed information about their tenants, the vast majority of landlords are not paying the taxes they should.
To remedy this, the ministry should work with private real-estate Web sites to ensure that only approved, aboveboard landlords can post their properties for rent, in the same way that the Ministry of Labor prohibits online job banks from listing non-approved companies on their Web sites.
Chen Ming-hung
Hsinchu
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