Housing in 19 counties and cities across the country has also entered the aging trend. (Photo by reporter Xu Yiping)
[Reporter Xu Yiping/Taipei Report] Not only has Taiwan entered a super-aged society, but it has also been difficult to reverse the trend of population aging in a short period of time. On the other hand, the problem of aging housing across the country has also intensified.
According to the latest release from the Real Estate Information Platform of the Ministry of the Interior, the average age of tax-registered residences nationwide in the second quarter was about 34.46 years. Among the 22 counties and cities, only three counties and cities, including Taoyuan City, Hsinchu County and Kinmen County, have an average age of less than 30 years. In other words, 19 counties and cities across the country have also entered an aging trend, and even 3 counties and cities have an average age of more than 40 years. The average age of residences in Yunlin County is about 41.31 years. Chiayi County is about 41.32 years old and Penghu County is about 44.33 years old, indicating that it has entered the current situation of super-elderly housing. Real estate developers are worried that the situation of "elderly people trapped in old houses" will become more and more common in Taiwan in the future.
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Zeng Jingde, project manager of Xinyi Housing Real Estate Enterprise Research Office, said that in the early years, the demand for housing was strong, especially at that time, model housing was mainly apartment-type products that were copied to the supply side in large quantities. Therefore, there are currently a bunch of old apartments in Taipei City that are more than 40 years old for this reason.
According to information released by the Ministry of Interior, among the 22 counties and cities in the country, the proportion of old houses over 30 years old is less than 50%. Only 4 counties and cities, namely Taoyuan City, Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City and Kinmen County, have the proportion of old houses over 30 years old. In contrast, there are 8 counties and cities with more than 70% old houses, including Taipei City, Changzhou Hua County, Yunlin County, Chiayi County, Pingtung County, Taitung County, Hualien County and Chiayi City, Chiayi County has the highest proportion, about 74.58%, followed by Taipei City, about 74.47%, which translates to one house for every 1.34 houses in Taipei City starting from 30 years old.
Huang Shuwei, director of Colliers International Real Estate Owner Representative Services Department, said that the overall aging of residential housing in urban areas reflects two major supply blind spots, including the lack of exit mechanism for old inventory and the scarcity of prime land that can be developed in urban areas. This has resulted in the slow pace of new supply in the housing market and the inability to generate enough new homes to replace or eliminate old buildings, causing the metabolism of the overall housing market to stagnate.
The supply of new housing is low and slow, making it impossible to replace old housing.
Secondly, the population and old residences are highly concentrated in the egg yolk area. In particular, employment, medical care and living functions are highly concentrated in mature old urban areas. Elderly people have become accustomed to the existing living circle and are unwilling to move, which has led to the continued deepening of the phenomenon of "elderly population clustering in old urban areas".
He Shichang, CEO of Xinchuan Real Estate Think Tank, said that Taiwan has become a "double-elderly country" where the elderly live in old houses and have old houses. The problems of living safety, repairs and inconvenience caused by the elderly living in old houses have become common problems for the elderly group. As a result, the elderly are increasingly inclined to choose buildings with elevators when buying houses, and apartments that require climbing stairs are gradually being abandoned. This phenomenon has caused the price gap between apartments and buildings in urban areas to continue to widen. It is expected that this trend will spread from major urban areas to the whole country.
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