外國人在台灣買房須知2026｜富盛地產

Can foreigners actually buy property in Taiwan? Yes, but with conditions. Taiwan's Land Act Article 18 requires the "principle of reciprocity" — your home country must allow Taiwanese citizens to buy property there before you can buy property in Taiwan. Once reciprocity is confirmed, you also need to avoid the 7 restricted land types listed in Article 17 (forest land, water-source land, military zones, etc.), and be realistic about mortgage approval, which is generally harder for foreigners than for locals.

Our team at Fusheng Realty regularly works with foreign clients and cross-border families in Taichung. The 3 questions we hear most are: "Is my nationality even eligible?", "Can buying property get me a residence permit?", and "Will the bank actually approve my mortgage?" This guide answers all three in Traditional Chinese, English and Cantonese — switch languages using the buttons at the top.

Take 30 seconds to check your situation — select your nationality category, whether you hold a residence permit, and whether you have Taiwan income, and you will get a rough read on where you stand before reading further.

Yes, but you need to clear 3 hurdles first. Land Act Article 18 says foreigners may acquire land rights in Taiwan only if their home country's law grants the same rights to Taiwanese citizens — this is the "principle of reciprocity". Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior maintains an official "Reciprocal Countries List". Japan, South Korea, most US states (except Oklahoma), the UK, Germany, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are all on the fully-reciprocal list. Hong Kong is on a separate "conditionally reciprocal" list — Hong Kong Permanent Resident ID holders (who carry no other country's travel document) can buy on the same terms as reciprocal-country foreigners. Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei, Macau and Iran are on the non-reciprocal list, meaning nationals of those places generally cannot acquire land rights in Taiwan.

Even if your nationality qualifies and the property isn't restricted land, the process still requires filing through a licensed land agent (地政士) at the local Land Office, followed by approval from the municipal/county government (legally required within 14 working days), before the transfer can be completed. Always check the latest version of the MOI Reciprocal Countries List (official PDF, Chinese); the legal basis is the Land Act, Articles 17–19 (Chinese).

No — buying property and obtaining residency/immigration status are two completely separate matters. This is the most common misunderstanding among foreign clients: many assume "buy a house, get a status upgrade", but Taiwan's property registration system and immigration law are two entirely separate systems. Buying a house does not automatically grant you any residency right.

If you want to live in Taiwan long-term, these are the actual legal paths — not buying a house:

Harder than for locals, but not impossible. Banks reviewing a foreigner's mortgage application care most about "ability to repay" and "stability of status" — what matters is not your passport nationality itself, but whether you hold a residence permit (ARC/APRC) valid for 6+ months and have stable local Taiwan income. The law does not ban foreigners from borrowing, but each bank sets its own lending policy. In practice, foreigner mortgages typically land around 50–70% loan-to-value (lower than the ~80% common for local first-time buyers), often with shorter terms (roughly 15–20 years) and slightly higher interest rates.

Documents commonly required: passport, ROC residence permit (valid 6+ months), 6+ months of payroll records or withholding statements, employment certificate, the sale-and-purchase contract, and land/building registration transcripts; some banks additionally require a creditworthy Taiwanese guarantor. Foreign buyers with no residence permit and no Taiwan income are typically declined outright by most banks — in practice these buyers often pay in full cash, or bring on a Taiwanese friend/relative as co-borrower guarantor.

Many people assume "Asian nationalities are all treated similarly" — but Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China and Vietnam are each governed by independent, quite different rules, and lumping them together is a common and costly mistake.

The foreigner buying process adds two extra checkpoints compared with a local purchase — "reciprocity review" and "government approval" — everything else is largely the same:

The tax categories are basically the same — deed tax, house tax, land value tax, the consolidated housing and land income tax, and land value increment tax all apply to foreign buyers and sellers under the same rate structure. The biggest difference is the "self-use residential preferential rate": the standard land value tax rate is 10‰–55‰; if you hold household registration and genuinely occupy the property as your own home, you can apply for the preferential 2‰ rate — but most foreigners have no Taiwan household registration, so unless you hold a residence permit and the tax authority approves your actual self-use occupancy, you cannot claim this discount and will generally be taxed at the standard rate. The consolidated housing and land income tax is based purely on holding period (45% within 2 years, 35% for 2–5 years, 20% for 5–10 years, and a lower bracket beyond 10 years) — this part applies identically regardless of nationality.

Many foreign clients assume the buying process works the same way as back home, and get caught off guard by two big differences in Taiwan: when the mortgage gets approved, and how home inspection actually works. Understanding these two points before you sign anything will save you a lot of surprises.

In the US and many other countries, buyers typically must obtain a lender's Pre-Approval Letter — proof they can actually borrow the money — before making an offer at all. Once the contract is accepted, the deal moves into an escrow (third-party holding) period, during which the bank runs its final, full underwriting review; funds are only released once every condition is satisfied. In other words, by the time you sign, you already have a very high degree of certainty about your financing.

Taiwan — especially for pre-sale (預售屋) housing — works the opposite way: buyers typically sign the contract first, then pay the down payment and construction installments as the project progresses. The formal mortgage application and bank sign-off usually don't happen until 1–2 months before handover, once the building has received its occupancy permit. That means you won't know your actual loan outcome until long after you've signed — if the approved amount falls short, at best you'll need to cover the gap in cash, and at worst you could end up in breach of contract.

In the US, a home inspection is a standard contingency built into the purchase contract. Within 5–7 days of the contract being signed, the buyer pays a licensed Home Inspector to perform a comprehensive, non-invasive check covering structural surfaces, the roof, plumbing, electrical systems, HVAC, smoke detectors and more. If the inspector flags a serious structural concern — say, a foundation crack wider than roughly 1/8 inch with visible displacement — the buyer is referred to a licensed Structural Engineer, who can produce a legally-binding assessment. The whole process is essentially built into the standard home-buying workflow; buyers rarely need to remember to arrange it themselves.

Taiwan's resale-home inspection process has no equivalent contractual default — it depends entirely on the buyer proactively arranging it. In practice, the focus is mainly on three areas: structural columns/beams, plumbing, and electrical wiring. The mainstream approach is to hire a multi-disciplinary inspection team (covering structural, plumbing/electrical, and finishing trades, each with separate government-issued qualifications); only when there's genuine suspicion of a serious structural issue (e.g. a 45-degree diagonal crack running through a wall, or visible tilting) would you separately commission a licensed civil/structural engineer for a dedicated assessment. The key point: in Taiwan, it's on the buyer to actively request and arrange the inspection — it's not an automatic step baked into the contract.

Good to proceed now: foreigners who already hold a valid residence permit (ARC/APRC) with stable Taiwan income, whose nationality is on the fully-reciprocal list, and who have already decided to live in Taiwan long-term or have a Taiwanese spouse — this group generally gets more favorable mortgage terms and tax treatment.

Better to wait: buyers whose nationality is on the non-reciprocal list, who have neither residence status nor Taiwan income, or who are hoping to buy property purely as a shortcut to residency — for these situations, the groundwork (financing, status determination) takes longer. Call our consultants first to confirm feasibility for your specific case before you commit.

Buying property as a foreigner in Taiwan is entirely possible — but the order matters: confirm your nationality's reciprocity status, your residency plan, and your mortgage feasibility before you decide to make an offer. Hong Kong, Mainland China and Vietnamese nationals each face very different rules — never apply the same logic across all of them. Use the language switcher and eligibility checker above right now, and for anything case-specific, call our foreign-language consultants directly — it will save you a lot of guesswork.

香港人喺台灣真係買得樓嘅？答案係：買得，但要符合條件。台灣《土地法》第18條要求「平等互惠原則」——即係你嘅國籍／地區都要允許台灣人喺嗰邊買樓，你先可以喺台灣買樓；好消息係，香港居民本身就係喺互惠國家名單入面，同一般外國人一樣可以買。之後仲要留意第17條列出嘅7類禁止取得土地（林地、水源地、要塞軍備區等），同埋按揭成數普遍比台灣本地人低嘅現實情況。

富盛地產團隊實際接觸過唔少香港客同越南華僑客，最常問嘅3件事係：「我而家嘅身份買唔買得」「買樓之後可唔可以換居留證」「銀行按揭會唔會好難批」。呢篇文用中文、English、廣東話三種語言一次講清楚土地法規定、按揭門檻、稅務差異，同埋香港／大陸／越南人士規定嘅唔同，上面可以直接切換語言睇。如果你係香港客戶，建議直接搵劉家瑜（識講廣東話同越南話）洽詢，落面聯絡名片有電話。

先用30秒查一下自己嘅情況——揀好國籍／地區類別、有冇居留證、有冇台灣收入，就大致知道自己企喺邊個位置，再決定要唔要繼續睇落去。

買得，但要先過三個關口。《土地法》第18條規定，外國人喺台灣取得土地權利，前提係佢母國法律都要容許台灣人喺該國取得同等權利——呢個就係「平等互惠原則」。台灣內政部有官方公佈嘅「互惠國家一覽表」，日本、韓國、美國大部分州（俄克拉荷馬州除外）、英國、德國、法國、加拿大、澳洲、紐西蘭都屬於完全互惠名單。香港就屬於「附條件平等互惠」——持香港永久性居民身份證（又冇持其他國家旅行證照）嘅人，可以比照互惠國家人士取得台灣土地權利；印尼、柬埔寨、越南、緬甸、汶萊、澳門同伊朗就屬於非互惠名單，呢啲地方嘅國民一般唔能夠喺台灣取得土地權利。

就算國籍過關、樓盤又唔係限制土地，程序上仍然要經過執業地政士向地政事務所申辦，再由地方縣市政府核准（法規要求要喺14個工作日內准駁），先可以完成過戶。記得查最新版嘅內政部互惠國家一覽表（官方PDF），法源依據係土地法第17至19條。

唔等於——買樓同攞居留／移民身份係兩件完全獨立嘅事。呢個係香港同海外客戶最常見嘅誤解，好多人以為「買咗樓、身份就自動升級」，但台灣嘅不動產登記制度同移民法規係兩套完全獨立嘅系統，買樓唔會自動幫你攞到任何居留權。

如果想長期喺台灣居留，真正合法嘅途徑係下面呢4條，而唔係買樓：

比本地人難，但唔係批唔到。銀行審批外國人按揭最重視「還款能力」同「身份穩定性」，關鍵唔係護照國籍，而係有冇效期6個月以上嘅居留證（ARC／APRC）同台灣本地穩定收入。法規冇禁止外國人借按揭，但各銀行授信政策唔一樣，實務上外國人按揭成數普遍喺5成至7成之間，比本地首置常見嘅8成低，年期通常都短啲（約15至20年）、利率亦略高。

一般要準備嘅文件：護照、台灣居留證（效期6個月以上）、6個月以上薪轉紀錄或扣繳憑單、在職證明、買賣契約，同埋土地／建物登記謄本；部分銀行仲會要求信用良好嘅台籍保證人。冇居留證又冇台灣收入嘅外國買家，大部分銀行都會直接拒批，實務上呢類買家多數要全額現金付款，或者搵台灣嘅朋友／親屬做共同借款擔保人。

好多人以為「亞洲身份都差唔多」，但香港、澳門、大陸同越南各自受完全獨立、差異好大嘅規定管轄，混為一談係好常見、代價又大嘅錯誤。

外國人買樓流程比本地人多兩個關卡——「互惠審查」同「政府核准」——其餘大致一樣：

稅目基本一樣——契稅、房屋稅、地價稅、房地合一稅同土地增值稅，外國買家賣家都適用同一套稅率。最大差別係「自用住宅地價稅優惠」：一般地價稅稅率係10‰至55‰，如果有台灣戶籍又真實自住，可以申請優惠2‰稅率——但大部分外國人冇台灣戶籍，除非持有居留證又經稽徵機關核准實際自住使用，否則攞唔到呢個優惠，一般會用標準稅率課徵。房地合一稅純粹按持有年限計算（2年內45%、2至5年35%、5至10年20%、10年以上更低），呢部分同國籍冇關係，一視同仁。

唔少海外客戶會直接搬自己母國嗰套買樓經驗嚟台灣，結果俾台灣嘅流程順序嚇一跳——尤其呢兩件事差異最大：按揭審批嘅時間點、同驗樓嘅做法。先搞清楚呢兩個差異，先至唔會簽咗約先發現「點解同我以為嘅完全唔一樣」。

喺美國同好多其他國家，買家通常要先攞到銀行發嘅「貸款預先核准信（Pre-Approval Letter）」，證明自己借得到呢筆錢，先可以正式出價；合約成立之後先入去由第三方託管公司（escrow）監管嗰個階段，銀行呢段期間先做最終、完整嘅核貸審查（Underwriting），所有條件滿足咗先撥款完成過戶。換句話講，未簽約之前，你已經對「按揭批唔批得到」有好高把握。

台灣，尤其係預售樓，就係相反嘅順序：買家通常先簽約、跟住工程進度交自備款同工程款，正式嘅按揭申請同銀行對保，一般係嗰個建案攞到使用執照、準備交樓前1至2個月先進行——即係話「按揭結果」要等到簽約之後好耐先知道，如果批到嘅金額唔夠預期，輕則要自己補現金差額，重則可能陷入違約困境。

喺美國，驗樓（Home Inspection）係買樓合約嘅標準附加條款（Inspection Contingency），雙方簽約生效後5至7日內，買家會自費搵有牌嘅「驗樓師（Home Inspector）」做全面性非破壞式檢查，範圍包括結構表面、屋頂、水電系統、冷暖氣、煙霧警報器等；如果驗樓師發現重大結構疑慮（例如地基裂縫超過約0.3厘米又有位移），仲會轉介「結構工程師（Structural Engineer）」出具具法律效力嘅鑑定報告。呢套流程幾乎係「內建」喺買樓合約入面嘅標準步驟，買家唔太需要自己記住主動諗要唔要驗樓。

台灣中古樓驗樓而家冇呢種制度化嘅合約條款，主要靠買家自己主動搵驗樓團隊。實務上檢查重點多數集中喺樑柱結構、水管、電路配置呢三大方面，主流做法係搵「複合專業驗樓團隊」（由土建、水電、裝修等唔同牌照嘅專業人員組成），只有懷疑真係有重大結構問題（例如45度斜向貫穿裂縫、明顯傾斜）先需要另外加請「土木技師」或者「結構技師」做專案鑑定——關鍵係：台灣買家要自己主動安排驗樓、自己出錢請人嚟檢查，呢個唔係合約自動內建嘅步驟。

適合而家買：已經持有有效居留證（ARC／APRC）又有台灣穩定收入嘅外國人，國籍屬完全互惠名單，同埋已經決定長期喺台灣生活或者有台灣配偶——呢類客戶一般會攞到比較好嘅按揭條件同稅務待遇。

建議先等等：國籍屬非互惠名單、又冇居留身份又冇台灣收入，或者純粹想靠買樓做居留捷徑嘅買家——呢啲情況要做嘅前置工夫（籌資、身份確認）會比較耐。建議先打電話同我哋顧問確認你嘅個人情況可行性，先落定決心。

外國人喺台灣買樓完全可行——但順序好重要：落offer之前，先確認你嘅國籍互惠狀態、居留計劃同按揭可行性。香港、大陸同越南各自規定差異好大，唔好一套邏輯套用晒。而家就可以用上面嘅語言切換同資格快查工具，個人情況有問題就直接打電話搵我哋外語顧問，可以慳好多時間同猜測。香港客戶建議直接搵劉家瑜，識講廣東話又識越南話。