I mean in normal markets you'd expect price-to-rent ratio to up to 20x. If it's higher buying probably doesn't make a lot of sense unless you expect prices to c

I mean in normal markets you'd expect price-to-rent ratio to up to 20x. If it's higher buying probably doesn't make a lot of sense unless you expect prices to continue growing at a very fast rate (which of course makes it too risky if it's your primary home). In Taipei it seems to be about 50x. So if you live there and want to have children it's certainly not cheaper (you can't afford it anyway) and you end up paying already very high and continuously increasing rent payments all your life. By the time you retire you have no equity and very little savings. Situation is the the same in a lot of major cities. It's just that rents are naturally caped at some proportion of median income (that leaves you with very little disposable income) while real estate prices have become almost completely detached from it.