The ownership of the building purchased in Taiwan, including all levels from and below the ground as well as the land covered, belongs to the owner of the house. For foreigners immigrating to Taiwan, as long as they can afford it, they will basically consider buying a house. There are six major cities in Taiwan, namely Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Tainan, plus Hsinchu City, which has Taiwan's version of Silicon Valley. The trend of housing prices varies. Among them, Taipei City is known as “The Kingdom of Condescending”, with the highest housing prices among all cities. The type of house in Taiwan is divided into the following categories:

1. Shared Apartment
   
   Similar to “sub-divided flats” in Hong Kong, there is no separate toilet and kitchen, just one room. Usually, this kind of room is only rented by more people in Taipei, and most of the tenants are students or grassroots temporary residents.
   
   
2. Suite
   
   Similar to the suites in Hong Kong, there are separate toilets, and some have simple kitchens. There are two types of suites: independent suites and sub-letting suites, ranging from 5 to 15 pings (about 175 to 525 feet). Larger suites or duplex apartment would separate living room from room, which feels more like a home but large enough for 2 persons.
   
   
3. Block of Flats
    
   Block of flats in Taiwan are generally about 4-5 floors without elevators, and the age of the house is about 20-40 years. The features are old, practical, no amenities and no management fee. Residents have to wait to garbage trucks every day for disposal since there are no garbage collection for the premises.
   
   
4. Apartments
   
   Apartments in Taiwan are referring to block of flats with elevator. The age of house is between block of flats and mansion. Some apartments do not acquire amenities and the management fee is comparatively low.
   
   
5. Mansion
   
   Mansion is referring to apartments with elevator which age of house is below 10 years. It is usually newly built and most of them are equipped with atrium gardens, underground parking lots, guard management room, gym, reading corner and kids playground. Some large-scale mansions will even equip with swimming pool, cinema, mahjong room, billiard room, badminton court and yoga classroom. The public area ratio and management fee is usually higher.
   
   
6. House
   
   A house is referring to a single premise, which ownership is individual from ground to top. It can also be called as villa. It is usually around 3-4 stories and scattered in the suburbs or village. It will be very expensive if it lies in the downtown.