In expensive Taiwan, some young people are giving up on the housing market to join the 'moonlight clan' insteadEvery weekend and often in the evenings after work, newlyweds Chien Yu Liu and Cheng Wei Yu take part in a familiar and increasingly frustrating ritual.
"However, when you don't have a lot of money yourself and see the housing prices continuously rising, along with everyone around you investing in the market, you can feel like you're not keeping up."Between 2000 and 2022, the housing price index in Taipei city rose by 240 per cent. In some other Taiwanese cities, including
"The biggest challenge my friends encounter is similar to ours: the excessively high housing prices," Mr Yu said.His wife, Ms Liu says the situation is very stressful, especially when their relatives weigh in with advice. But for others, it's more of a lifestyle choice that throws caution to the wind because they believe they will never be able to scrimp and save enough to make a measurable difference to their future."If we were taught, 'If we work hard, we can make it,' but in the end we realise that is not the case, no matter how hard you try, you simply cannot make it … what would you do?" Professor Chi said.
"Now it's really hard to buy an apartment or even a house — and in Taipei, impossible. And for me, next life," he said, laughing. It's hard to know exactly what proportion of the rental market operates like this, but Taiwan's Tenants Alliance estimates it's 70-90 per cent."Those landlords don't want to pay tax and also they are worried who is living inside," said Andy Chang from the Believe in the Next Generation Association.
If a prospective tenant sees an apartment containing a toilet that is any colour other than white, they can assume the building is likely more than 40 years old."But because the landlord wants to gather more rent, they turn into a bedroom and say, 'oh, it's so easy to find some food in Taipei, so you don't have to cook at home.'"
The tenants in Mr Chang's program get access to their "university cafe", and they encourage them to pursue social and artistic projects.