In Taipei, 24.76% of residents are aged 65 or older — Taipei Times
In Taipei, Taiwan, the share of residents aged 65 and older reached 24.76% in August, the highest figure among the country’s 22 administrative regions. At the same time, 74.47% of homes in the city were more than 30 years old in the second quarter, the second-highest rate in Taiwan, Taipei Times reports.
An aging population and old housing stock
Overall, 17 of Taiwan’s 22 regions have already become “super-aged societies,” where people aged 65 and older account for at least one-fifth of the population. Taoyuan, Taichung, Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County and Lienchiang County have not yet reached this threshold.
Huang Shu-wei, head of tenant services at Colliers International Taiwan, said the city should consider not only the age of buildings but also the associated safety and health risks. In his view, policies focused primarily on the benefits of reconstruction do not solve social problems. He also pointed to an outflow of younger residents, which exacerbates the demographic imbalance.
Huang proposed coordinating the actions of different agencies and combining tools such as reverse mortgages, elderly care trusts and insurance. According to him, this could turn capital tied up in old housing into a source of income. He also mentioned rental management and home exchange services.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
High prices push out younger buyers
Tseng Ching-te, research projects manager at Sinyi Realty, said Taipei developed earlier than many other areas, making the problem of elderly people living in old buildings particularly acute there. In recent years, authorities have promoted the installation of elevators in residential buildings, but there is not enough space for this everywhere.
Ho Shih-chang, general director of the Housing Trend Institute, linked the outflow of young and middle-aged people to the high cost of real estate in the capital. The average price of apartments on Taipei’s secondary market is about NT$800,000 per ping, an area of 3.3 square meters, while presale properties often cost more than NT$1 million per ping. As a result, buyers are looking for housing in Keelung, New Taipei and Taoyuan, from where they can commute to the capital.
According to the information platform of Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior, the average age of housing nationwide stood at 34.46 years in the second quarter. Only in Taoyuan, Hsinchu County and Kinmen was the average age of buildings below 30 years. The oldest housing stock was recorded in Penghu County, with an average age of 44.33 years.
