The Mortgage Trap: You're Not Buying a House, You're Buying a 30-Year Cage
Your mom says if you don't buy now it's too late, and your LINE group is buzzing about a classmate's home purchase. But have you really thought about whether that NT$29,547 monthly mortgage, the NT$2 million down-payment opportunity cost, and the 40-year-old apartment it becomes after 30 years is a good deal? A real breakdown of a NT$10 million New Taipei old apartment shows the 30-year total cost approaches NT$19 million — NT$10.63 million in principal and interest, plus NT$2.86 million in lost investment opportunity on the down payment, plus taxes, insurance, management fees, renovation, and selling costs. Meanwhile the renter who invests the NT$9,547 monthly savings difference plus the NT$2 million down payment at 3% ends with NT$9.26 million in assets after 30 years — actually coming out ahead by over NT$2 million. Taipei price-to-income ratios have hit 16x and New Taipei 13x, triple the 6 to 8x of the 1990s. You'll get four veto-proof iron rules including the one-third mortgage-to-income limit and the 10-year minimum holding period so you can make a housing decision no longer held hostage by family pressure.