Taiwan Central Bank Eases Housing Curbs, Raises Second-Home Mortgage Cap to 60%

Taiwan's central bank has introduced successive rounds of selective credit controls since 2020. Its seventh round of measures in September 2024 lowered the nationwide loan-to-value cap on second-home mortgages for individual borrowers to 50% from 60% and barred grace periods. By the end of February 2026, the concentration of real-estate lending had fallen to 36% from a peak of 37.6%, while annual growth in home-purchase loans had slowed to 4.5% from 11.3%, indicating an improvement in speculation and excessive concentration of funds.

At its board meeting on March 19, 2026, the central bank approved a modest adjustment to the controls, restoring the second-home mortgage cap to 60% from March 20 while leaving all other restrictions unchanged. For a NT$20 million home, the maximum loan rises to NT$12 million from NT$10 million. Borrowers who applied by March 19 or whose loans were recently disbursed may also seek an additional 10% in financing if they pledge not to direct the extra funds toward restricted real estate and receive approval from their lender.