Sanmin District Leads Kaohsiung Rentals With 17.3% Share, Nanzih District Rises to 2nd

Kaohsiung's top 5 rental hotspots are, in order, Sanmin, Nanzih, Lingya, Zuoying and Fengshan districts. Among Kaohsiung's 15 main districts, about 70% saw higher rental demand this year than in previous years, including Nanzih, Zuoying, Xinxing and Xiaogang districts.

Li Jiani, manager of the Taiwan Realty Group Trends Center, said Sanmin District has a large area and a large population base, with established living areas such as the train station commercial area, Kaohsiung Medical University, Yangming and Houyi, and relatively affordable home prices, which have long attracted students and office workers to rent there.

Nanzih District has held second place for 2 straight years. Li Jiani said Nanzih District was already supported by demand from export processing zone industries and the National University of Kaohsiung special zone, and in recent years has also benefited from TSMC's plant construction; as the plant entered the equipment installation and mass production stage in 2025, related workers have been moving in. Li Jiani analyzed that some tech industry workers from other areas tend to rent first and buy later at the start, and prioritize areas near industrial parks with convenient transportation.

In terms of rental types, the share of residential high-rise buildings and whole-building (or whole-unit) rentals in Kaohsiung is rising this year, while studio apartments account for about 20%, down about 1.5 percentage points from previous years. This year, about 20% of Kaohsiung tenants come from other counties and cities, mainly Pingtung, Tainan and Taipei. Two-bedroom units in high-rise buildings near the TSMC plant rent for about NT$20,000 to NT$23,000 per month, higher than apartments and subdivided units in townhouses.

Chen Yangzhi, owner of a Taiwan Realty franchise store, said Kaohsiung home prices have been relatively high in recent years, and with the financial pressure and higher home-buying thresholds after the lending restrictions took effect, together with consideration of rent subsidies, some young buyers with limited funds may rent instead of buying for now, which has also widened demand for whole-floor 2- to 3-bedroom high-rise rentals.