The number of people holding non-owner-occupied or vacant homes this year increased by 19,661 to 545,586, as more people own one or two residential properties that are not in use, data compiled by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) showed yesterday.
The number of people owning vacant homes has continued to increase in the past few years, a development that has triggered public grievance about unaffordable housing and prompted the government to introduce a series of measures to curb property hoarding.
The latest data showed that there were 441,841 people with one home that was not in use this year, up from 422,697 last year and accounting for 80.98 percent of the total, while 67,783 people held two vacant homes, up slightly from the year before to account for 12.42 percent.
However, the number of people owning three ore more vacant homes has continued to decline in the past few years, the ministry said.
For instance, there were 36,707 people who held three or more vacant residential properties last year, but the number dropped to 35,962 this year, accounting for 6.59 percent of the total, it said.
Furthermore, 8,781 people held five or more vacant properties this year, down from 9,127 last year, and 1,659 owned 10 houses or more, down from 1,608, it said.
To rein in house hoarding and property price hikes, the Executive Yuan last month approved a proposal imposing different tax rates on residential property ownership, with holders of multiple vacant properties paying a higher tax.
The plan, which is subject to lawmakers’ approval, aims to raise the tax on three or more vacant residential properties to between 2 and 4.8 percent of their value, from the existing 1.5 to 3.6 percent.
If the Legislative Yuan passes the plan in the upcoming session, the government hopes to implement it in July next year.
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