Taiwan Housing 2026: Prices, Mortgages and the Youth Loan
In Q1 2026, Taiwan's national price-to-income ratio was 9.47 and the mortgage burden ratio 41.46% (Ministry of the Interior). This page lines up prices, lending, institutions, history and each side's views on one scroll, with an official source and cut-off date for every number.
9.47x
National price-to-income ratio
Median home price divided by median household disposable income, Q1 2026.
41.46%
National mortgage burden
Monthly mortgage payment as a share of disposable income; the ministry rates this level "Low affordability".
1.775%
Qing-An 3.0 rate, first 3 years
Qing-An (青安) is a subsidised first-home loan run through state-owned banks. Floating rate, then +0.125 points a year, reaching 2.275% in year 7.
Calculate a mortgageTry your own mortgage first, then see where these numbers come from
Before anyone else's numbers, work out your own.
Start with your own: what does a NT$10 million mortgage cost each month?
Enter a loan amount, term and rate and the chart shows the monthly payment and how much of it is interest. It opens on the Qing-An 3.0 step rates (1.775% for the first three years), and you can switch to an ordinary mortgage. The ordinary-mortgage default, 2.318%, is the five-bank average new home-loan rate that the Ministry of the Interior used for its Q1 2026 affordability figures. A grace period is the early stretch when you pay interest only and no principal; the monthly payment jumps when it ends, and the chart shows that jump.
In Q1 2026 the national median home price was NT$9.66 million and median household disposable income was NT$1.02 million, a ratio of 9.47; Taipei was 14.72. The national line bottomed in Q3 2002 at 4.15, peaked in Q3 2024 at 10.82, and has since eased to 9.47.
Two cautions. From Q3 2012 prices come from actual price registration (since 2012 every sale must be reported to the government with its transaction price, and the data is public); before that they came from bank appraisals, so comparisons across that point should be treated carefully. And this is an official ratio of medians; every household differs, so put your own numbers into the calculator above.
The ministry rates the mortgage burden in four bands: below 30% is "Reasonably affordable", 30% to 40% is "Slightly low affordability", 40% to 50% is "Low affordability", and 50% or more is "Very low affordability". In Q1 2026, 2 counties were at 50% or more (New Taipei City, Taipei City) and 2 were below 30% (Chiayi County, Keelung City).
Counties marked ＊ (Penghu County, Kinmen County) had fewer than 100 registered sales, so their numbers swing. The official table has no figure for Lienchiang County. The official method assumes a 20-year loan, 70% loan-to-value and median income, which differs from any one household.
In 1989 people slept out on Zhongxiao East Road; in 2014 they slept out on Ren'ai Road. 25 years apart.
5 price surges pushed policy from building public housing to controlling credit
The literature counts 5 major price surges in Taiwan, running from about 1972 to 2024. The five small cards show which waves have reliable figures, followed by a short timeline of the 14 most important events.
1Wave 1, about 1972 to 1974 Size and causes: no official data for this wave.
2Wave 2, about 1978 to 1980 Size and causes: no official data for this wave.
3Wave 3, about 1986 to 1990 Figures exist, but sources differ on start and end years and on geography; they are listed side by side on the history page.
4Wave 4, about 2003 to 2014 Figures exist, but sources differ on start and end years and on geography; they are listed side by side on the history page.
5Wave 5, about 2020 to 2024 Size and causes: no official data for this wave.
Key events
1945–1974
Land and resettlement
What can be verified from this period are two land reform laws, US-aid housing loans and a provincial public housing rule. We have not yet obtained official texts for the Land-to-the-Tiller Act or the military villages, so they are left out.
1975–1986
The public housing era
The Public Housing Act of 1975 launched planned direct government construction; after the 1982 amendment policy shifted to encouraging investment-built housing.
LawThe Public Housing Act is promulgated
Show details and sources
An Executive Yuan document states that the Public Housing Act was enacted and promulgated on 12 July 1975 (year 64 of the Republic).
Taipei prices rose sharply between 1987 and 1990, and in 1989 the Snail Without a Shell movement slept out on Zhongxiao East Road. In 1999 the government announced an end to public housing construction, and the 921 earthquake struck the same year.
MovementThe Snail Without a Shell movement sleeps out on Zhongxiao East Road
Show details and sources
On 26 August 1989 the Snail Without a Shell movement slept out on Zhongxiao East Road in Taipei. Every attendance figure found is a later recollection; no police or organiser count from the time was located. OURs' retrospective says the government answered with more public housing and wider mortgage lending, the first ending in 1999 and the second becoming a key financial support for high prices.
PolicyThe government stops building public housing
Show details and sources
The Agency document records that from 1999 the government progressively announced an end to both direct construction and investment-incentive construction of public housing.
From 2000 the government ran preferential home-purchase loans, with the quota reaching NT$800 billion by 2003. In 2010 the central bank again set home-loan rules for designated areas, and the Youth Home-Starter Loan began at the end of that year.
Credit controlFinance Ministry launches the Youth Home-Starter Loan
Show details and sources
The Ministry of Finance launched the Youth Home-Starter Loan, offered by eight state-owned banks from their own funds. The loan ceiling was raised from NT$5 million to NT$8 million on 1 January 2016.
Between 2011 and 2019 the special goods tax, the Housing Act, actual-price registration, the combined housing-and-land tax, the rental act and the old-building rebuilding act were all put in place, and in 2014 the Nest movement took to Ren'ai Road.
LawThe Housing Act is enacted
Show details and sources
The Housing Act was enacted on 30 December 2011 with 54 articles. A 2013 Executive Yuan document states it took effect on 30 December 2012.
The Equalization of Land Rights Act was amended on 30 December 2011, adding Article 81-2 as the legal basis for actual-price registration; an Executive Yuan order set 1 August 2012 for Articles 47 and 81-2. Related provisions of the Real Estate Brokerage Act took effect the same day.
MovementThe Nest movement sleeps out on Ren'ai Road
Show details and sources
On 4 October 2014 the Social Housing Advocacy Alliance held a sleep-out on Ren'ai Road in Taipei. There is no official count, and organisers, Taipei Times, police and CNA's English service gave very different figures, listed below.
The Income Tax Act was amended on 24 June 2015 to add the combined housing-and-land income tax, effective 1 January 2016 under Article 126. We did not obtain the official text of the rates, so they are not listed.
The central bank began selective credit controls in December 2020 and added rounds up to a seventh; in 2026 it eased the second-home cap twice. Youth Loan 3.0 took effect on 1 August 2026.
Credit controlCentral bank launches its first round of selective credit controls
Show details and sources
Announced 7 December 2020 and effective 8 December: legal entities buying a first home 60%, second or more 50%; individuals' third home onward 60%; land-purchase loans 65%, among others. The release says real estate loans were 35.9% of total lending at end-October 2020, against a historical peak of 37.9%.
The enhanced Youth Home-Starter Loan (officially version 2.0, popularly the new Youth Loan) took effect on 1 August 2023 after Cabinet approval on 13 July, with interest subsidies running to 31 July 2026. The ceiling, term and grace period were all lengthened.
Credit controlRound 7 of selective credit controls
Show details and sources
Announced 19 September 2024 and effective 20 September: the cap for an individual's second home falls to 50% and applies nationwide; legal entities, high-priced homes, third homes onward and unsold stock are capped at 30%; no grace period for a first home bought by someone who already owns property; reserve requirement ratios rise 0.25 percentage points from 1 October.
MarketBuilding transfers fall 25.5% to 261,308 in 2025
Show details and sources
TechNews, citing the Interior Ministry, reports 261,308 building sale transfers in 2025, down 25.5% and a nine-year low; first registrations rose 8.4% to 176,700. We did not find the Ministry's final 2024 figure.
On 16 July 2026 the Cabinet approved Youth Loan 3.0, effective 1 August with applications open to 31 July 2029. Borrowers must be under 50 at application with personal annual income of NT$2 million or less, and a home-price cap applies; the first three years are subsidised by 2 basis-point steps, a net rate of 1.775%, then reduced by half a step each year.
Credit controlCentral bank eases second-home cap to 70%
Show details and sources
Announced 17 September 2026 and effective 18 September, the cap for an individual's second home rises from 60% to 70% while the policy rate is unchanged. Liberty Times adds that the construction-start undertaking for land-purchase loans is removed.
The government's levers fall into four: money, tax, land and homes.
The state steers the housing market through lending, tax, land transactions and supply
Lending
The price and quantity of money
The central bank sets the cost of funds with its rediscount rate and caps loan-to-value ratios and grace periods in its mortgage rules. The Treasury runs the Qing-An loan through state-owned banks to subsidise young buyers' interest.
Profit on a sale falls under the combined housing-and-land income tax, holding a home under the house tax, and transferring land under the land value increment tax. The figures below are revenue actually collected, not tax rates.
Combined housing-and-land tax
NT$94.4 billion2025 collected; Taiwan.md sums four quarters
Every sale is registered and its price made public
Sales must be registered, and since 2012 the transaction price must also be reported and published. That is how the ministry can compute the price-to-income ratio and the housing price index.
Building transfers by sale
261,308 buildings2025, down 25.5% on the year before
The state builds, and also rents from private owners
The government builds social housing directly, leases homes from private landlords and sub-lets them to households in need (master-leasing), and pays rent subsidies.
Social housing delivered
128,914 unitsincluding under construction, 31 Oct 2026
The central bank has two dials: the interest rate, and how much of the price you may borrow.
The central bank tightened lending in 7 rounds, then eased 2 times from 2026
On 8 Dec 2020 the central bank launched its first round of selective credit controls, capping loan-to-value for companies and owners of several homes. By round 7 on 20 Sep 2024, the second-home limit covered the whole country.
Mortgage rates climbed from 1.35% (Sep 2021) to 2.33%, with 7 rounds of controls between 2020 and 2024
The line is the monthly weighted average new home-loan rate at the five largest banks, the steps are the central bank rediscount rate, numbers mark when each round took effect, and downward arrows mark easing.
Average loan-to-value on second homes fell from 77% to 49%
Average bank loan-to-value for each restricted loan type before the controls, one month before round 7, and in the latest count. The short bar is the central bank cap.
Source: Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) , as of Feb 2026 The pre-control base month differs by category; for second homes it is a figure for designated areas. See the notes in the data table.Data table
Loan type
Before controls
One month before round 7
Latest count
Central bank cap
Corporate home-purchase loans
63.97%
32.32%
29.88%
30%
Individuals, 1st home (already owns a house)
no data
no data
73.51%
—
Individuals, 2nd home
77.16%
57.87%
48.95%
50%
Individuals, 3rd home or more
63.97%
39.4%
29.82%
30%
Individuals, high-priced homes
71%
38.58%
28.45%
30%
Land purchase loans
69.19%
48.32%
49.81%
50%
Unsold new-home loans
51.03%
35.15%
28.78%
30%
Since then real estate loans fell from 37.61% of all lending (Jun 2024) to 34.44% (Jul 2026). Citing the controls' effect and lower concentration, the bank raised the second-home loan-to-value cap to 60% on 20 Mar 2026 and to 70% on 18 Sep 2026.
Under the bank's relief measures, Qing-An loans are exempt from the first- and second-home limits for individuals; high-priced homes and the rest remain restricted.
Building transfers by sale in 2025: 261,308, down 25.5% on the year before
Nationwide, per year (sum of four quarters from the Ministry of the Interior platform).
The "new Qing-An" people talk about is no longer the current Qing-An.
The new Qing-An has become Qing-An 3.0, and the subsidy shrinks every year
The Qing-An loan (青安), the Youth Home-Starter Loan, is a subsidised first-home mortgage run by the Ministry of Finance through 8 state-owned banks. Qing-An 2.0, the "new Qing-An", expired on 31 Jul 2026. Qing-An 3.0 took effect on 1 Aug 2026 and accepts applications until 31 Jul 2029. Media in the first half of 2026 called what became 3.0 "new Qing-An 2.0".
The original Qing-Anthe old one 1 Dec 2010 – 31 Jul 2023
Qing-An 2.0the "new Qing-An" 1 Aug 2023 – 31 Jul 2026
Qing-An 3.0 1 Aug 2026 – 31 Jul 2029 current
Qing-An 3.0 rates climb from 1.775% to 2.275%, a step each year
Bar tops are the subsidised rate, hatching is the government subsidy, and the dashed line is the unsubsidised loan rate.
The staircase starts on day one: for the first 3 years the subsidy is 0.5 points and the rate 1.775%. After that the subsidy shrinks by 0.125 points a year, and from year 7 the borrower pays the unsubsidised 2.275%. Existing 2.0 borrowers follow the same taper.
A NT$10 million loan over 40 years with a 5-year grace period: the monthly payment jumps from NT$14,792 to NT$33,901
Our own calculation: level-payment amortisation at the step rates above, showing the first payment of each year. There is no official payment table.
During the grace period you pay interest only, NT$14,792 a month. The year it ends (year 6) principal repayment starts and the payment jumps to NT$33,901, then NT$34,539 from year 7: NT$19,109 more every month. This is the number to work out before you borrow.
Current terms
Limit
Standard NT$10 million; married within two years NT$12 million; with a minor child NT$15 million
Term
Up to 40 years including grace period, which can last up to 5 years
Loan-to-value
Up to 80%
Age
Under 50 when applying, and age plus term no more than 80
Income
Borrower's own annual income no more than NT$2 million
Price cap
Taipei City NT$35 million; New Taipei City, Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City NT$25 million; elsewhere NT$20 million
Frequency
Anyone approved for a Qing-An or farmer-youth loan since 1 Aug 2023 cannot borrow again; borrowers sign an owner-occupation pledge
We found no 2026 official document on whether 3.0 loans stay outside the bank lending cap in Article 72-2 of the Banking Act, so there is no official data on this yet.
On the same issue, what government and housing groups have said.
What government agencies and housing groups say about prices and the Youth Loan
Every card below is something the speaker said in public, with the speaker, date and source. Some are agency statements quoted by the media, and the card says so. Political parties and candidates are not included on this page.
Government agencies
為避免變成懲罰結婚者，因此決定排富門檻是以借款人本人的年所得200萬元，作為貸款資格條件。
To avoid it becoming a penalty for getting married, we decided the means-test threshold is the borrower's own annual income of NT$2 million. Our translation; the original is Chinese
The overall plan to promote social housing has not changed. We will keep expanding housing support through direct construction, master-leasing and rent subsidies. Our translation; the original is Chinese
國土署（新聞稿，媒體報導） Agency statement, quoted by the media Source : 中央社
Housing advocacy groups
借越多、還越久，房價又越高
Borrow more, repay longer, and prices go even higher. Our translation; the original is Chinese
If we stop building social housing now, Taiwan may become the country that started building social housing the latest in the world and stopped the earliest. Our translation; the original is Chinese
To balance the market, public housing with controlled rents, lease terms and quality must reach 5% of all housing, about 500,000 units. Our translation; the original is Chinese
This page has several limits. Official texts were mostly out of reach, so much comes from media reports, and paraphrase is kept apart from verbatim quotation. Public material critical of current policy outweighs material defending it, and no scholar defending the new Youth Loan was found. For parties we include only 2024 presidential-campaign positions and official party releases, and nothing from any 2026 local-election candidate; the KMT and TPP therefore have only one or two paraphrased items, and for the New Power Party, the Green Party and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party nothing was collected within that scope. Banks are represented by one bank's indirectly quoted investor briefing, and the Social Housing Advocacy Alliance only by its 2014 demands. Gaps are shown as 'no data' under each issue rather than filled with someone else's words.
A fuller account of each side's position is still being prepared. This page carries only quotes that can be checked word for word.
Before the criticism, look at what this system has achieved.
What this system gets right, in numbers you can check
83.95%
of households live in a home owned by a member of the household
77Lowest fifth
812nd
83Middle
874th
91Highest fifth
2025 household survey. Lowest income group 77.17%, highest 91.46%.
In Taipei City, where the mortgage burden is highest (64.41%), only 6.39% of homes are low-use. In Taitung County, where the low-use share is highest (15.47%), the mortgage burden is 35.66%. The ranking is reversed between the two.
The second stage of the social housing plan targets 20 ten-thousand units by 2024 (12 built directly, 8 through master-leasing). So far 128,914 units are delivered, 81,227 of them still under construction; master-leasing has matched 254,646 households cumulatively, with 118,923 contracts in force. The target and the count use different definitions: units under construction have no tenants, and cumulative matches are not contracts in force, so the two cannot simply be subtracted.
Ownership concentration: the Ministry of Finance publishes no "four or more homes" bracket, so there is no official data on this and the page draws no chart and makes no estimate.
A heavy burden still leaves doors open. Three things to try first:
In the coming months a few events will rewrite the numbers on this page.
5 things to watch next
1Aug 2029
Qing-An 3.0 subsidies start to taper
For the earliest 3.0 borrowers the rate moves from 1.775% to 1.9% around Aug 2029. Applications for 3.0 are open until 31 Jul 2029.
2Pending
The Q2 2026 affordability indicators
The latest the ministry has published is Q1 2026, with a price-to-income ratio of 9.47. The charts here will update when the next quarter appears.
317 Dec 2026
The next central bank board meeting
The second-home cap has been eased 2 times in 2026. Real estate loans are 34.44% of lending (Jul 2026), below the recent peak of 37.61%.
4Ongoing
Social housing moving from construction to completion
81,227 units are under construction; a unit counts as complete, and can house people, only once it has an occupancy permit. Another 21,695 are planned.
5Quarterly
Population and households
Household size fell from 2.96 people (Q4 2009) to 2.35 (Q2 2026), and births fell from 191,310 to 107,812 (2009 to 2025). We could not obtain the National Development Council projections, so future household numbers are not estimated and there is no official data on this here.
Births fell from 191,310 to 107,812 (2009 to 2025)
Annual births nationwide, sum of four quarters from the Ministry of the Interior platform.
Numbers on this page are read from data files at build time and none are typed by hand. The table lists the source agency and cut-off period for each data set; "calculated by Taiwan.md" marks values we added or divided ourselves.
