Taiwan is building much taller apartment towers as land gets expensive, which is good for developers squeezing more homes onto costly land but means smaller, higher-up units for buyers.

• Homes in buildings of 16 floors or more grew by over 250,000 in ten years, up more than 50%.
• Land and house prices rose faster than what people can afford, so developers build up and shrink unit sizes.
• Tainan, Taoyuan and Taichung grew fastest, while Kaohsiung lagged among the big six cities.
• Towers above 16 floors face extra rules — outside structural review, wind tunnel tests, fire and disaster planning — so builders long capped projects at 15 floors.
• Looser floor-area limits for urban renewal and old-building rebuilds, plus better earthquake-damping technology, made going taller worth the cost.

Outlook: Taller buildings are now a one-way trend, with the fastest growth expected in newly zoned districts of Tainan, Taoyuan and Taichung.