Xie Mingrui's Perspective: From 'Qing'an' to 'New Qing'an' to 'Qing Unrest'

On August 1, 2026, the Qing'an 3.0 scheme was officially launched, and related housing market issues followed. Qing'an is short for 'Youth Housing Purchase Subsidy Loan,' also known as Qing'an Mortgage. It is a government-subsidized low-interest mortgage aimed at easing the housing burden for young people, newlyweds, and first-time homebuyers. Led by the Ministry of Finance and provided through eight major state-owned banks, the Qing'an policy was first implemented in 2010. After three adjustments or upgrades—Qing'an 1.0, Qing'an 2.0, and Qing'an 3.0—it has become the government housing loan project with the longest repayment period and the most generous interest subsidies in Taiwan's financial market. From December 2010, the government began promoting the Qing'an project (Qing'an 1.0), revised it to New Qing'an (Qing'an 2.0) in 2023, and further revised the New Qing'an content (Qing'an 3.0) in 2026. The Qing'an 3.0 project will end in July 2029. Over these twenty years, the Qing'an project has become a stabilizing force in Taiwan's housing market. Although Qing'an 3.0 has just begun, based on the policy outcomes of the previous Qing'an 1.0 and Qing'an 2.0, it can be inferred that under the policy direction of the Qing'an project over approximately 20 years before and after, the domestic housing market has not been able to escape the shadow of 'high housing prices in metropolitan areas being the top public grievance.' While solving housing problems through subsidies is not entirely off the mark, the effectiveness is relatively limited. Due to the misdirection of the policy, it is difficult to solve Taiwan's high housing price problem. Many people have not benefited from the government's Qing'an project, but they can feel the government's efforts to address public grievances. They can also understand that the government has to adjust the housing policy content based on election considerations. However, some people have always believed that the government's Qing'an plan is not the right policy, especially the long-term subsidy policy. Using subsidy policies to solve young people's housing problems is a 'treating the symptom, not the cause' approach and a reactive measure based on vote considerations. It deviates from economic theory and does not align with the societal pursuit of fairness and justice. During this period, I have published a series of articles in Wind Media, United Daily News, National Congress, and online media, discussing the pros and cons of the Qing'an project and its impact on the domestic housing market. Representative ones include 'Elections and the Qing'an Project,' 'The Housing Policy at a Crossroads - The Qing'an Project,' 'The New Qing'an Project 'Stretched' Out by the General Election,' 'The Lost 'New' Youth Housing Purchase Subsidy Plan,' 'Housing Policy: Success and Failure of Qing'an,' and 'Alice Dreaming in the New Qing'an Dreamland.' In the 'column' of Construction Magazine, I have loudly advocated, with some content being revised and adopted, but most are just literary rants. There are feelings of regret in my heart. Qing'an is for 'youth to buy houses with peace of mind,' but the financial burden after purchasing a house makes 'youth feel uneasy' (Qing Unrest), because whether it is 'Qing'an' or 'New Qing'an,' it actually leads to 'Qing Unrest.' New Qing'an 3.0 Scheme On July 16, 2026, the Executive Yuan approved the 'Youth Housing Purchase Subsidy Loan 3.0' (New Qing'an 3.0) scheme and officially implemented it on August 1. Given that it concerns people's rights and benefits and involves changes in the domestic housing market and economic trends, the relevant contents are briefly explained as follows: (1) Features and Purpose On July 16, 2026, the government decided on the 'Qing'an Loan 3.0 Scheme' and began implementing it on August 1. From the earliest traditional Qing'an (1.0), it evolved into Qing'an (2.0) that drives the just-needed housing market, and then to the latest 'precise anti-fraud and encouraging marriage and childbirth' Qing'an (3.0). The main conditions and restrictions of the policy generally have a certain logic. In addition to continuing the youth housing purchase subsidies, New Qing'an 3.0 shifts the policy focus to supporting 'married families' and adds new restrictions on 'age,' 'income,' and 'total housing price.' The main goal is to make government resources more accurately fall on the truly housing-needy first-time homebuyers. (2) Application Contents Generally, Qing'an 3.0 and 2.0 are quite similar, with seven items of loan objects and conditions being the same. Regarding the application qualifications and new thresholds of New Qing'an 3.0, they include the application objects (adults, and no self-owned housing under the name of oneself, spouse, and underage children), self-occupation (must be self-occupied, and new loan applicants need to sign a self-occupation undertaking), loan amount (up to 10 million yuan), loan ratio (up to 80%), grace period (up to 5 years), loan term (up to 40 years), and one-time in a lifetime (borrowers can only borrow once). In the New Qing'an 3.0 scheme, in addition to the application qualifications and new thresholds, the main contents also include the New Qing'an interest subsidy adopting a '3+3' mechanism. Among them, the 'first 3' is that both Qing'an loan 2.0 and 3.0 loan applicants can enjoy a three-year interest subsidy, and the 'second 3' is that after the three-year period expires, the government's subsidy interest rate is reduced by '0.125% per year' until the subsidy is completely ended in the sixth year. Additionally, there are additional incentives for married families (up to 15 million yuan can be borrowed); to prevent speculative housing speculation, maintain the restriction of one loan and self-occupation verification, to ensure that the subsidies are truly provided to self-occupied first-time homebuyers. (3) Almost all first-time homebuyers can apply The main purpose of the 'Qing'an 3.0' policy is to help people without self-owned housing reduce the housing purchase threshold by setting a total price limit, hoping that policy resources can be more concentrated on self-occupied first-time purchase needs. Therefore, 'Qing'an 3.0' sets a three-tier total price threshold, and any amount exceeding the upper limit is not eligible for loans. According to the 2025 real estate transaction data statistics, the transaction ratio meeting the New Qing'an restrictions in the seven major metropolitan areas is all over 70%. Among them, Taoyuan and Tainan have the highest proportion, both close to 90%, representing that the first-time homebuyers applying for 'Qing'an 3.0' have very little restriction in housing choices. In addition, other counties and cities outside the seven major metropolitan areas all have more than 90% falling within the total price limit, indicating that if the scheme is implemented in the future, most market transactions will fall within the applicable range of 'Qing'an 3.0', which has little impact on the first-time homebuyer group and meets the policy goals of precise subsidies, realizing self-occupation, and preventing misplacement of resources. Therefore, almost all first-time homebuyers meet the application conditions. In general, Qing'an 3.0 mainly comes from the revision of Qing'an 2.0, including the content of the application period, application objects, maximum loan amount, maximum ratio, maximum loan term and grace period, age and loan term, annual income, housing total price limit, and interest subsidy incentives. Therefore, the planning of Qing'an 3.0 is mainly to solve the problems derived from Qing'an 2.0 and can be regarded as an advanced version of Qing'an 2.0. Qing'an Project and Housing Loan Subsidies Generally speaking, the Qing'an policy is equivalent to the subsidy policy for young people to buy houses, and the subsidy funds come from public taxation, that is, the government uses the taxes of the majority to subsidize the minority housing buyers. A brief explanation is as follows. (1) Theoretical Basis for Subsidy Policies According to economic theory, the core reason for government subsidy policies is to 'correct market failures' and 'pursue social fairness.' However, the results may be a double-edged sword, that is, while achieving short-term policy goals, they also come with long-term fiscal burdens and market distortions. Explanation as follows. Correcting Market Failures: Market failure (Market Failure) refers to the phenomenon that the free market cannot efficiently allocate resources under the mechanism of supply and demand, resulting in the failure to achieve the maximization of overall social welfare. Examples include externalities (Externalities), public goods (Public Goods), asymmetric information (Asymmetric Information), and market power (Market Power) interference. Therefore, it is necessary to repair them through government subsidy policies. Strategic Industry Cultivation: Refers to the government, in order to guide national economic transformation, improve technological levels, and create high added value, through tax incentives, financial subsidies, or 'urban land use control' and other policies in a specific period, to cultivate key industries such as semiconductors (chip bill), AI, and electric vehicle research and development, to ensure technological leadership and supply chain security. Social Welfare and Care for the Vulnerable: Vulnerable groups (Vulnerable Groups) refer to groups that, due to a lack of resources, power, or specific physical characteristics in the social, economic, political, or cultural structure, are in a disadvantaged position, easily subjected to unfair treatment, or face survival crises. In order to realize distributive justice and guarantee basic human rights, subsidies are provided for low- and middle-income households or specific groups, such as rental subsidies, living allowances, and childcare allowances. Livelihood Economy and Price Stability: When international raw material prices fluctuate drastically, the government intervenes to prevent inflation from impacting people's livelihoods, such as subsidies for oil prices, electricity prices, housing prices, and guaranteed purchase prices for agricultural products. Preventing Market Distortions: Market distortion (Market Distortion) refers to any obstruction to the normal operation of the price mechanism, causing the 'market price' of goods or production factors to deviate from cost norms, leading to price 'distortion' and preventing resources from being allocated in the most efficient manner. (2) Negative Effects of Subsidy Policies In government subsidy policies, if the subsidy policy is well-designed, it can effectively drive economic transformation and social stability, such as inducing private investment and industrial upgrading, reducing the living burden of the people, and guiding the transformation of consumer behavior. However, there is no free lunch in the world. Any product or production factor has its cost and price considerations. Excessive or inappropriate government subsidies may bring serious negative effects. For example,