The Ministry of the Interior on Monday finalized the income criteria for a housing subsidy program that will be launched next year to help young couples who do not own a home.
Under the program, the government would provide a subsidy of NT$3,600 per month for two years for those renting a home, or subsidize the full cost of interest on up to NT$2 million each in home loans for the first two years of payments for new homebuyers.
Based on the income criteria set by the ministry, applications for the rental subsidy will be open to households whose annual incomes fall in the bottom 60 percent of wage earners in their place of residence.
Estimated to fall within this range will be households earning no more than NT$1.58 million (US$45,000) per year in Taipei City, NT$1.14 million per year in Kaohsiung City and NT$1.04 million per year in the rest of the country, the ministry said.
As for government-subsidized home loans, households whose disposable income rank below the 80th percentile are eligible to apply.
This will cover households whose annual income does not exceed NT$2.18 million per year in Taipei City, NT$1.57 million in Kaohsiung City and NT$1.4 million in the rest of the country.
The ministry had announced earlier that up to 20,000 households would receive rental subsidies and up to 10,000 could avail of government-subsidized home loans during the first year of the program’s implementation.
In addition to meeting the income criteria, applicants for the rental subsidy must be couples aged 20 to 40 who were married within two years of the application date or who have children under 20, or adult children who are still in school.
Meanwhile, the preferential home loan is for couples aged 20 to 40 who were married within two years of the application date or those aged 20 to 45 who are upgrading to a bigger home after having children.
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