Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that his comments about prohibiting loans for the purchase of second homes were “rudimentary” ideas that need further discussion.
“At the time, I was speaking with young people and was not particularly aiming to discuss this issue [of slowing the rise of housing prices] in depth,” Ko said. “While this method [of controlling housing prices] can be brought up for discussion, it is not yet a mature concept.”
In a recent interview with CK Potpourri, the Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School magazine, Ko expressed incredulity that more had not been done to address the “simple” matter of reining in housing prices, saying that denying loans to people purchasing a second home or apartment would easily trigger a drop in prices.
Photo: Hsiao Ting-fang, Taipei Times
Ko also advocated imposing heavy taxes on homes bigger than 20 ping (66m2).
Ko yesterday said that while it would be easy to target real-estate speculators, allowances had to be made for policy side effects.
Because of Taipei’s high home ownership rate of 70 percent, policies targeting speculators would not be well-received by city residents, he said, adding that “freezing” or slowing the growth of housing prices would be safest way to address the issue.
Promoting urban renewal projects and finding a way to compel property owners to put the current 8 percent of empty housing units on the market would help restrain prices, he said.
When pressed on how the city might achieve this, Ko said his administration would put 1,000 city-owned housing units up for rent after the Lunar New Year holiday, but would wait to observe the effects of a new tax on non-residential housing units before taking additional measures.
Under new tax rules that came into effect last year, city residents are allowed to claim up to three principal residences, with property tax rates to double to 2.4 percent for any additional properties.
“In reality, what a Taipei mayor can do is very limited, because most of the major tools to control housing prices are in the hands of the Ministry of Finance,” he said.
The mayor added that he would focus on the tools within his power, such as urban renewal and leasing out city-owned properties.
Asked to comment on Ko’s idea, Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) echoed Ko’s answer that it was only an idea that he floated for discussion.
“Housing policy is a complicated issue that involves many aspects; its effectiveness would depend on the economic conditions of society as a whole,” Tsai said. “We can all sit down and talk to find a way to solve the issue of high housing prices.”
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