TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s presidential candidates traded jabs over their personal property holdings on Tuesday night (Dec. 20) in a televised policy address that saw the trio reaffirm their existing plans to tackle the country’s globally high house prices.

Lai Ching-te (賴清德), Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), and Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) delivered policies to improve housing affordability, increasing Taiwan’s social housing stock, and offering downpayment-free loans to help first-time buyers. At the same time, the candidates highlighted their opponents’ family-held property portfolios and track records in office to argue they were out of touch on the issue.

With less than a month until Taiwan goes to the polls, this summary provides a basic outline of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Kuomintang (KMT), and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) housing policies. In addition to Tuesday’s televised address, the information is taken from past statements made by party leaders and published policies.

Democratic Progressive Party

In September, vice president and DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said he would continue housing projects that began under President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). The DPP’s policy is to increase the number of social housing units to 200,000 through 120,000 new builds and 80,000 units subleased from private owners whose rental agreements would be managed by private companies.

Lai said he would increase the number of social housing units to 500,000 over eight years, with a 50/50 split between new builds and subleased units. Lai also said he would expand rent subsidies to include 500,000 households.

Renters in Taiwan have struggled to access the rental subsidy scheme, due to landlords who seek to reduce their tax bill by refusing to accept tenants who apply for the subsidies. A recent study noted that over 90% of renters in Taiwan rent their houses through “illicit or clandestine arrangements.”

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The government has tried to curb this in various ways, including by amending rental guidelines to prohibit landlords from using subsidies as an excuse to raise rent, which includes penal provisions for violators. Lai has also proposed a cap on rental income tax to address this issue.

On Tuesday the third reading of a bill that would increase taxes on the ownership of multiple vacant properties passed the legislature. Known as the “house hoarding tax,” the bill includes reduced taxes for single homeowners and increased taxes for landlords, owners of multiple vacant homes, and inheritors of properties.

Taxes on properties built by developers and not released to market within certain time frames will also be increased. The third reading took submissions from parties' legislators, though no consensus has yet been reached on the minimum tax for those who own multiple vacant properties, per CNA.

The purpose of the tax is to increase Taiwan’s housing supply by reducing the financial incentives to keep houses empty. It is expected to be implemented by July 2024, per UDN.

Ko Wen-je, Hou Yu-ih, and Lai Ching-te don hard hats on the campaign trail. (Taiwan News collage, CNA photos)

Kuomintang

Kuomintang (KMT) presidential candidate Hou has announced a housing policy targeting first-time buyers, increased social housing, curbing market speculation, and diversifying the social housing stock. Hou first announced the policy in October, which he said was modeled on a Singaporean policy helping newly married couples get their first home.

The policy would help newly married couples under a certain income threshold buy apartments built on state-owned land at 30% less than the market price. The apartments would be purchased for a set ownership period of 70 years.

Hou also outlined subsidies for families with multiple children ranging from similar discounts on apartments on state-owned land to one-off subsidies of NT$1 million for renting or buying. Hou also said a Cabinet-level committee should be established to address property speculation, and said property tax should be reviewed.

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During the same policy announcement, Hou outlined a vision to diversify the types of social housing on offer. This would include housing for corporate workers, the elderly, and the above-mentioned privately-owned houses on public land.

Hou expanded on the idea of the KMT’s housing policies in early December when he outlined further measures targeting young people, per CNA. The further policy would provide deposit-free home loans up to NT$15 million (about US$480,000).

The loans would be available to first-time buyers under 40 who fall within a certain income threshold. Buyers would only be required to pay interest on the loan for the first five years when the government would subsidize 0.5% of those payments.

The government subsidy would fall to 0.125% after five years, and mortgage repayments would begin. Members of Hou’s campaign team added that if mortgagees defaulted on their loan payments, the government would foot the bill.

Upon the third reading of the government’s proposed “house hoarding tax,” the Commercial Times reported that the KMT reached an agreement on the rates at which multiple vacant properties owned by the same person would be taxed.

Hou Yu-ih presents housing policy in October. (CNA photo)

Taiwan People’s Party

In August TPP presidential candidate Ko Wen-je said he plans to build more social housing and find idle public land to build them on, expand rental subsidies, and use the tax system to force unoccupied properties onto the rental market, per CNA. TPP policy states that the party would build social housing until the amount reaches 5% of Taiwan’s total housing stock.

Ko proposed a system that would set tax based on the number of properties owned, and separate income taxes from rental income taxes. He also said that developers who build housing for in-need groups will receive government incentives.

Property speculators would also be subjected to heavy taxes under the TPP’s policy, and taxes for single-family homeowners would be halved.

Members of the TPP say the government’s proposed “house hoarding tax,” and said that it does not go far enough. Before the third reading of the tax bill on Tuesday, TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said that his party proposes a tax rate as high as 10% on those who own 10 or more properties, per FTNN.

Social housing units are pictured in Taipei. (CNA photo)