Taipei residential buy-to-let, taken apart: 1.97% gross becomes about 1.0–1.4% after the full stack
Composite-board score: 4.3 · Where it is strong: Stability & rule of law, Evidence strength · methodology
The Taiwan question this site's readers ask most, answered once with the full stack. The gross figure: Taipei residential averages a 1.97% gross rental yield (Taiwan's five cities 2.26%, a 46× price-to-rent ratio, Global Property Guide Q2 2026, asking basis), corroborated by Numbeo's 1.75% city-centre figure — among the thinnest yields measured anywhere in the world. Deduct in order (this site's derivation): vacancy and turnover (about one month per two-year lease cycle, roughly 4% of rent), letting fees (about a month per lease) and repairs (about 0.15–0.25 points), non-owner-occupied house tax (2.0–4.8% of an assessed value that runs well below market — an effective drag of about 0.1–0.3 points) and land value tax, and then the big non-resident item: rent withheld at 20% of gross with no expense deduction, which alone removes roughly 0.35 points. The net is about 1.0–1.4% before any financing cost — below Taiwan's own government bond yield, with all of equity's burdens. Exit adds its own cut: non-residents pay 45% on gains within two years and 35% beyond, with no further taper. This asset's return story has only ever been one line — price appreciation — which is a leveraged bet on the AI wealth effect, not a cash-flow investment. Rated below the bar as an explainer: its job is to print the deduction stack in full and retire the question on this page.
In short: four lines first
Taipei two-bedrooms about NT$20–45M
1.97%（Taipei residential gross rental yield (Q2 2026 survey)）
Medium burden (long-let can be outsourced; withholding and ageing-building matters remain yours)
This entry is itself the risk statement: a net of about 1.0–1.4% sits below the risk-free rate, the entire return depends on price appreciation, and the policy variables (credit controls, the hoarding tax) all point at suppressing speculative demand — buying it inside an income framework is a category error on day one.
The numbers that matter
Why we think it makes money
It is the best specimen of "what prices are priced on": Taipei prices are set by land scarcity and semiconductor wealth, rents by local wages, and the two curves have diverged for twenty years — the 46× price-to-rent ratio is the scale of that divergence.
The 20% gross-basis non-resident withholding is the heaviest single tax item in any market on this site: levied on gross income with no deductions, it cuts the net yield by a third at a stroke — and many overseas buyers first hear of it after completion.
Costing this entry honestly is what makes the Taiwan page's other entries stand: logistics (No. 38) and the REITs (No. 40) are "thin" only relative to residential's thinner — without this entry as the denominator, the page's yield scale has no origin.
How to actually get in
- Direct purchase for long-term letting: a Taipei two-bedroom median sits around NT$28M (survey basis), with realistic entry at NT$20–45M; foreigners may buy on the reciprocity basis (Singapore nationals qualify), while PRC nationals fall under a separate restricted regime (see the country page).
- This page offers no "how to buy it better" route: no route changes the 1.97% gross starting point. Anyone entering Taipei residential should do so for own use or an appreciation judgment, assessed under that framework separately.
What it costs, what it earns
Entry amount: Taipei two-bedrooms about NT$20–45M
How much work for you: Medium burden (long-let can be outsourced; withholding and ageing-building matters remain yours)
- Non-resident withholding at 20% of gross rent: the largest single line, with no expense deduction.
- House tax (non-owner-occupied 2.0–4.8% of assessed value) plus land value tax (from 1% progressive, assessed basis) plus deed tax of 6% at purchase (assessed basis).
- Vacancy and turnover, letting fees (about a month per lease), repairs and ageing-building capital expenditure.
Basis: this site uses full-cost net returns only — income minus vacancy, management, maintenance, taxes and insurance, then financing interest, with entry costs in the denominator. See the methodology。
Identity & tax
Status (residency / citizenship)
This asset does not count toward the channel This asset leads to no status
Threshold: 月薪 NT$160,000（近 3 年任一年达标等路线）
买任何台湾资产都不产生身份：台湾没有黄金签证、没有房产居留。身份只有凭本事的就业金卡（见本站身份页·凭本事赛道）。另须知：外国人购房按互惠原则（《土地法》18–19 条，新加坡籍符合）；中国大陆籍是另一套严管体制（内政部许可、三年转让锁、每年停留上限等），本站大陆读者请先核资格再看条目。
Source: 台湾《土地法》第 18–19 条；就业金卡办公室
Tax (investor level)
非居民租金按毛额扣缴 20%（不得扣费用，实务上近于最终税）；卖出时房地合一税非居民 45%（≤2 年）/35%（>2 年），没有再往下的台阶。
- 企业所得税 20%；个人所得税 5–40%。居民出租可按 43% 设算费用扣除，非居民按总额 20% 扣缴——持有结构直接改净回报。
- 房屋税：非自住住宅 2.0–4.8%（囤房税 2.0，2024 起，按公告价）；地价税自用 0.2%、一般自 1% 起累进。
- 买入：契税按公告价 6%。
Double-tax treaties: 新加坡—台湾税收协定已换新：2025-12-31 签署、2026-02-13 生效、2027-01-01 起适用，股息/利息/特许权使用费扣缴上限 10%，并新增资本利得条款。
Source: 台湾财政部；台北国税局
This section is general information only — not immigration or tax advice. Program rules change frequently; before acting, rely on the official texts and a licensed adviser.
Risks: what could go wrong
What we have not verified yet
The following key figures have not yet been verified; the reason is noted for each item.
- Repairs and vacancy inside the 1.0–1.4% stack are this site's assumption ranges (the gross starting point and the withholding are anchored in survey and statute): per-unit outcomes vary, but no reasonable parameter set reaches 2%.
- The 46× price-to-rent ratio is an asking-basis survey figure; a transaction basis would read slightly lower without changing the magnitude of the conclusion.
FAQ
- Why do Taiwanese buy, then?
- For three reasons outside this site's framework: own use (not an investment), appreciation expectations (broadly delivered for twenty years), and wealth parking (a local savings habit). This site evaluates only the cash-flow basis, under which it fails; anyone buying on another basis should write that basis down before buying, rather than borrowing courage from the rental yield.
- Does holding through a company avoid the 20% gross withholding?
- Corporate holding moves the income into the 20% corporate tax with expenses and depreciation deductible, which improves the arithmetic somewhat — but the corporate side of the house-and-land tax, distribution and maintenance costs must be counted too, and none of it changes the 1.97% gross starting point. Structure optimisation cannot rescue an asset this thin.
- So Taiwanese property is entirely untouchable?
- This site's answer has two layers: as a cash-flow asset, no (this entry); as own use or an explicit appreciation judgment, that is a different decision framework this page does not expand. Keeping the two kinds of purchase separate is the entire point of this entry.
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