Taiwan's August Home Transfers Hit a Reported 10-Year Low, but Fell Only 5.6% From a Weak 2025
How to read Taiwan's August 2026 housing figures: why a reported ten-year low is only a 5.6 percent annual drop, where the six largest cities diverge, and how new-project launches and loan rules fit beside them.
本文另有中文版：「十年同期新低」的六都 8 月買賣移轉，年減卻只有 5.6%：去年 8 月已先少了三成
On September 1, land offices in Taiwan’s six largest cities (the six special municipalities) reported 15,723 registered building sale transfers for August. That is 23.3 percent fewer than July and 5.6 percent fewer than August 2025, and several Taiwanese outlets, including Commercial Times, Economic Daily News and Liberty Times, described it as the lowest August in about ten years.
Both numbers are correct, and they describe the same month.
About two weeks after the release, on September 17, Taiwan’s central bank (Central Bank of the Republic of China) raised the loan ceiling on second homes from 60 percent to 70 percent. Three sets of numbers sit around that date: transfers, new-project launches and loan rules, and because they measure different things, they read best side by side.
August 2025 was already 32.1 percent below 2024, and that sets this year’s floor
Commercial Times reported on September 1, 2025 that the six cities registered about 16,700 building sale transfers in August 2025, down 32.1 percent from August 2024, with every city falling by between 25.1 percent in Taichung and 37.4 percent in Tainan. January through August 2025 came to 135,721 transfers, down 27.6 percent, which Yongqing Realty’s Chen Chin-ping called the coldest first eight months in eight years.
| Six-city building sale transfers | August | August vs. prior year | Jan–Aug | Jan–Aug vs. prior year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | about 16,700 | −32.1% | 135,721 | −27.6% |
| 2026 | 15,723 | −5.6% | 133,667 | −1.5% |
Sources: Commercial Times (2025 row); six-city land offices, as reported by Anue and Commercial Times (2026 row).
Against that base, 2026 has been a year of small changes: the eight-month total of 133,667 is 1.5 percent below last year’s, and CTBC Realty’s Zhuang Szu-min said the cumulative figures show only a slight decline, with the market still in a consolidation phase, in his words.
August is where the level and the rate part ways. Anue reports that it was the third-lowest month of 2026, above only February, which holds the Lunar New Year, and April, so the level is low, while the change from an already low 2025 is small.
Kaohsiung and Taipei are up this year, while Taichung is down 9.8 percent
The six cities do not make one market, because three are ahead of last year through August and three are behind. The table gives the eight-month totals first and the August counts second.
| City | Jan–Aug 2026 | vs. 2025 | August 2026 | vs. Aug 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taipei | 16,092 | +3.7% | 1,752 | +2.8% |
| New Taipei | 31,554 | +1.0% | 3,619 | −4.2% |
| Taoyuan | 25,517 | −5.8% | 3,126 | −5.0% |
| Taichung | 24,958 | −9.8% | 3,260 | −12.9% |
| Tainan | 12,985 | −0.9% | 1,319 | −16.1% |
| Kaohsiung | 22,561 | +6.9% | 2,647 | +2.8% |
| Six cities | 133,667 | −1.5% | 15,723 | −5.6% |
Source: six-city land offices, as reported by Commercial Times, Anue and Liberty Times.
In August alone, Tainan fell 16.1 percent and Taichung 12.9 percent, while Taipei and Kaohsiung each rose 2.8 percent. Tainan’s 1,319 transfers were the fewest of the six, and Taiwan Housing said, as reported by Economic Daily News, that this was the lowest August for Tainan in about 14 years, with annual and monthly declines that were the largest of the six.
The counts show where the split falls, not why.
Industry sources point to a July rush, a folk-custom month and fewer working days
The monthly drop is large, at 23.3 percent below July, and three explanations came with the release, each from a different firm and each that firm’s own reading.
Taiwan Housing’s Chen Ding-chung tied it to a rule change. The government’s subsidized first-time-buyer loan program (青安) moved to version 3.0 in August, and the new terms exclude wealthier households, older buyers and high-priced homes, so some affected buyers, he said, rushed to close under version 2.0 before the end of July, which lifted July and raised the comparison base for August.
Yongqing’s Chen Chin-ping pointed to timing. Deals and registrations sit about a month apart, so the August count mostly reflects July and early August. The lunar seventh month is a traditional folk month in which some buyers avoid handovers and registration, and a typhoon closed offices and schools in several localities, and Chen Chin-ping said both moved handover dates on new-build projects.
Sinyi Realty’s Tseng Ching-te listed the stock market and the calendar. Taiwan’s stock index fell from 47,000 to briefly below 40,000 in July, July is a traditionally slow season for housing, and August had fewer working days for land offices to process transfers.
These are industry readings, not measured effects, and most of them are one-month effects. For that reason, this article reads the eight-month totals alongside the August figure.
591 counts NT$545.2 billion in late-September launches, back to the level of 2019 to 2021
591, a Taiwanese property platform, publishes new-build statistics on the late-September pre-sale season, known locally as the 928 window. As reported by Commercial Times on September 7, 591 counts 246 projects in this year’s window, down 21.2 percent. Total sales value came to NT$545.2 billion, down 23.3 percent. The 23.3 percent month-on-month drop in August transfers is measured against July, while the 23.3 percent year-on-year drop in launch value is measured against last year, and the two figures happen to be equal.
591 says that is the lowest for the window in almost six years, since 2021, and the coverage gives no figures for 2022 and 2023.
| 928 window, nationwide | Total sales value (NT$ billion) |
|---|---|
| 2019 to 2021 | annual average: NT$500 billion-plus |
| 2024 | more than 970 (a record, per 591) |
| 2025 | more than 710 |
| 2026 | 545.2 |
Source: 591 new-build statistics, as reported by Commercial Times.
Among the seven cities 591 compares, the six plus Hsinchu, only Hsinchu and Taipei rose. Hsinchu’s total passed NT$60 billion, up 220 percent, and Commercial Times cites a roughly NT$10 billion project in the city’s East District (達麗吾同) among the launches, while Taipei reached nearly NT$150 billion, carried by the Nangang Star project at NT$65 billion. Without that project, 591 says, Taipei’s launches still shrank.
New Taipei and Taoyuan each launched more than NT$100 billion but each fell by more than 30 percent from last year, and central and southern cities saw steep declines. In Kaohsiung, 591 says, the launch zones moved from Nanzi and Zuoying toward Fengshan.
591’s reading is that developers are delaying launches, slowing down to watch demand and shifting their attention to selling homes that are already built.
On September 17 the central bank lifted the second-home loan ceiling to 70 percent and dropped a land-loan pledge
The central bank’s statement, issued after its board meeting, sets two changes effective September 18. Under the first, the ceiling on second-home mortgages for individuals goes from 60 percent to 70 percent. The bank had raised it from 50 percent to 60 percent on March 20, while under the second, land-purchase loans no longer require a pledge to start building within a set period.
| Item | Before September 18 | From September 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Second-home mortgage ceiling, individuals | 60% (50% before March 20) | 70% |
| Land-purchase loans | 50%, with 10% held back for construction; concrete building plan and pledge to start building within a set period | Same, without the pledge |
Source: central bank press release, September 17, 2026.
The land-loan change touches the terms on which developers borrow to buy land, although a concrete building plan is still required, and the bank says the rule should return to banks’ own lending practice.
The 30 percent ceilings for company purchases of homes, individuals’ purchases of high-priced homes, third homes and beyond, and loans on unsold homes (餘屋貸款) all remained unchanged, and first-home loans keep no grace period. The rediscount rate stayed at 2 percent, and the same statement notes that short- and long-term market interest rates have risen in recent months.
The bank’s stated reason is that its selective credit controls are continuing to show results. It says housing transactions keep cooling, speculation has fallen and expectations of rising prices have eased, and it cites the share of real estate loans in all bank lending, a ratio that stood at 37.61 percent at the end of June 2024, 35.56 percent at the end of March 2026 and 34.44 percent at the end of July 2026, which is 3.17 percentage points below the 2024 level.
The statement does not cite the August transfer counts or 591’s launch figures.
Transfers, launches and loan ceilings count different things
| Measure | What it counts | Latest figure | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building sale transfers | Sold buildings whose ownership change is registered, in six cities | 15,723 in August 2026 (−5.6%); 133,667 for Jan–Aug (−1.5%) | Six-city land offices, via Anue and Commercial Times |
| 928 window launches | Pre-sale projects opened for sale, nationwide | 246 projects; NT$545.2 billion (−23.3%) | 591 new-build statistics, via Commercial Times |
| Second-home loan ceiling | Maximum loan-to-value ratio on an individual’s second-home mortgage | 70% from September 18 (60% since March 20) | Central bank |
A transfer count records a registered change of ownership in a building sale. A launch is a developer’s decision to open a project for sale, while a loan ceiling is a limit on what a bank may lend.
The next data point is the September transfer count. If the schedule follows August’s, which was published on September 1, it should arrive around early October. The new ceiling took effect on September 18, so September holds only about two weeks under it, and Yongqing’s Chen Chin-ping says registrations trail deals by roughly a month, which puts any effect of the new ceiling later still.
Sources
- Central bank of Taiwan, board meeting press releases (115) No. 149 (September 17, 2026) and (115) No. 051 (March 19, 2026).
- Commercial Times: six-city transfer reports of September 1, 2025 and September 1, 2026; 591 928-window report of September 7, 2026.
- Anue (Cnyes): six-city transfer report, September 1, 2026; 928-window report.
- Economic Daily News and Liberty Times: six-city transfer reports, September 2026.
This article summarizes published statistics, press releases and news reports, with forecasts labeled apart from reported figures. It is not investment advice.