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Updated Sunday, August 1, 2010 11:21 am TWN, The China Post news staff

Government to help senior home owners

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The government is poised to start a reverse-mortgage system in 2012 to enable senior citizens in financial straits to use their own real estate properties to raise bank loans and cover living costs with a monthly payment.

Officials said the program will be implemented on a trial basis at the initial stage to test the market reactions.

The qualified participants in the financial arrangement will be limited to those aged above 65 who live alone without regular income and the care of spouses or other dependents.

The government will provide a seed fund to launch the program by encouraging banks to provide the new financial service.

The fund, estimated at up to NT$200 million, could come from the finances from the income of the public lottery managed by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).

Officials said the number of senior citizens aged 65 and above accounted for 10.4 percent of the nation's total population in 2008 and the figure is expected to rise to 14 percent in 2017 and further up to 20.1 percent in 2025.

The system will enable senior home owners help themselves and reduce the financial burden of other taxpayers, they said.

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