The large number of old buildings in Taipei is making it more challenging to address the city’s rapidly aging population, a housing researcher said.
As of June, 11 of Taipei’s 12 districts were “super-aged,” meaning that at least 20 percent of their populations were aged 65 or older, housing researcher Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said on Saturday, citing Ministry of the Interior data.
Seventy-three percent of the city’s buildings are at least 30 years old, he added.
Photo: Taipei Times
“For every 1.37 homes in the city there is one home that was built before the 921 Earthquake in 1999,” he said.
Of the 368 administrative regions and districts nationwide, 191 — 51.9 percent of the total — are super-aged, he said.
While the aging population is a nationwide problem, the situation is particularly pronounced in Taipei, where 90 percent of districts are super-aged and half of the homes are more than 40 years old, he said.
As many as 18 percent of the city’s homes are 50 years old or older, and that number is growing, as urban renewal efforts fail to keep pace, Ho said.
“With housing prices so high, some buyers favor older buildings, which offer more space at lower prices,” he said. “Their mindset is that even though the buildings are 40 or 50 years old, they can live there and wait for the building to be replaced under an urban renewal project.”
Ministry data showed that of the 4,435 property sales and transfers in Taipei in the second quarter of this year, 2,829 were in buildings that were older than 30 years old, accounting for 63.79 percent of the total.
Of those 2,829 properties, 2,211 were more than 40 years old, accounting for nearly 78 percent of the aging properties sold, Ho said.
“One out of every 1.56 residential transfers in Taipei is an old property. Only 91 properties sold in the past five years were new, accounting for about 2.05 percent of the total,” he said. “That means that only one out of every 48.78 property transfers in Taipei is a new property.”
A building built before 1999 — when new construction standards were introduced to improve their earthquake resilience — is not necessarily dangerous to live in, Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋) research manager Tseng Ching-der (曾敬德) said.
“However, buildings constructed after that date follow stricter standards,” he said.
Andy Huang (黃舒衛), director of Landlord Representation Services at Colliers International Taiwan, said the situation is in a downward spiral, with older buildings decreasing in value as the financial capacity of elderly people declines as they get older, he said.
“Outside assistance is needed to balance the quality of life and financial situation of older people, especially amid this housing market,” he said. “Otherwise, social risks would worsen.”
To address the housing crisis faced by older people, Huang recommended integrating policies and resources, while accelerating the institutional reform of the rental market and social housing.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
AMENDMENT: Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of high-temperature days, affecting economic productivity and public health, experts said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is considering amending the Meteorological Act (氣象法) to classify “high temperatures” as “hazardous weather,” providing a legal basis for work or school closures due to extreme heat. CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) yesterday said the agency plans to submit the proposed amendments to the Executive Yuan for review in the fourth quarter this year. The CWA has been monitoring high-temperature trends for an extended period, and the agency contributes scientific data to the recently established High Temperature Response Alliance led by the Ministry of Environment, Lu said. The data include temperature, humidity, radiation intensity and ambient wind,
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
RSS