The growth of mass home ownership in Taiwan

With the increasing growth of home ownership in European countries, the issue of recommodification of housing is being widely discussed. The significant amount of international research focused on housing has drawn attention to the changing structure of the housing stock and the consequences of such change. Research is gradually shifting from a policy-centred perspective focusing on social housing to a wider view of how the housing market operates. In line with this trend in housing research, this paper seeks to explain the development of housing systems in Taiwan and to show how the high percentage of home ownership is related to the different routes by which new homeowners gain access to the sector.With the growing influence of market-based housing provision, home ownership depends more on the deepening involvement of the financial system, especially at the lower end of the market. Along with the changes in the wider social context -such as the downturn of the housing market, the wider economic recession, the rising rate of unemployment -the housing system that is dominated by mortgaged home ownership is in crisis.