Taiwan’s 895,000 Empty-Home Alert: Small Apartments of 20 Ping or Less Are the Hardest Hit

Taiwan’s low-use housing rate has fallen to 9.44 percent, but the smallest homes remain the most exposed part of the market. Interior Ministry data counted 895,000 residences with monthly average electricity use of 60 kilowatt-hours or less, a measure used to observe regional vacancy.

Homes measuring 20 ping or less recorded a low-use rate of 16.77 percent in the second half of 2025. That means roughly one in every six such homes was underused. Among Taiwan’s six special municipalities, Tainan had the highest rate at 24.09 percent, while Taipei had the lowest at 10.75 percent.

The national rate fell from 10.43 percent in the first half of 2025 to 9.44 percent in the second half. Kaohsiung had the largest number of low-use homes among the six municipalities, with 119,437, narrowly ahead of New Taipei City’s 119,168. Taipei had the lowest rate overall at 6.4 percent, while Tainan had the highest at 10.9 percent.

Analysts cautioned against treating vacancy as a direct guide to home prices. Ho Shih-chang of the Xin Chuan Real Estate Think Tank said past data showed little connection between vacancy rates and prices or rents. High vacancy tends to weigh on prices in areas without development and with declining populations, he said, while mature parts of the Taipei region benefit from jobs, transport and established services.

The ten districts with the lowest vacancy rates were all in Taipei or New Taipei, although each recorded lower transaction volumes. The lowest rate was in New Taipei’s Luzhou District, at 3.85 percent, but transactions there fell 30.5 percent over two years. Analysts attributed the relatively high vacancy among small homes to developers’ focus on compact units and purchases intended for investment or rental rather than immediate occupation. Huang Shu-wei of Colliers said the overall decline could also reflect the effectiveness of Taiwan’s nationwide household-based vacant-home tax.

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These places may see home prices fall, but there may still be no one who wants to buy.