If you're looking at new condos, these are the areas we'd watch. Star Diamond, by the canal in West Central, is our favorite. We also looked closely at the Pingshi special district in the East District. Below them are three other areas where several projects are underway or recently finished.
Prices are given per ping (坪), the unit used in Taiwan: 1 ping is about 3.3 square meters. "NT$500,000 per ping" is about NT$151,000 per square meter. Where something is still being finalized, we say so and give what's currently being reported and who reported it.
Check for yourself. This is what we learned and what official sources and the press said when we checked (October 2026). It isn't legal, tax or financial advice. Rules, rates and prices change, and some details here may already be out of date. Do your own research and talk to a licensed real estate agent, a land scrivener (地政士) and, if you need one, a lawyer or accountant before you commit.
Star Diamond (運河星鑽), West Central District
This is our favorite development area. It sits where the old canal ends, on the site of the 1983 Chinatown mall, which was torn down from 2016 and replaced by Hele Plaza (河樂廣場), a public plaza on the water that opened in 2020. The surrounding district of about 11 hectares is being built out with homes, shops and public space along the water (UDN, October 2026).
Land sales
- June 2024: Farglory (遠雄建設) bought a 1,467-ping plot for NT$1.761 billion, about NT$1.2 million per ping, a record land price for Tainan (ETtoday, June 2024).
- September 2026: the city sold two more large plots, about 1,628 and 3,088 ping, for a combined NT$3.914 billion, about NT$820,000 to NT$830,000 per ping (UDN, October 2026; FBS, September 2026). What will be built on them hasn't been announced.
The canal front and the piers
A privately funded plan for canal boats covers three piers, at Hele Plaza, Lin Moniang Park and the Water Landscape Park. As of July 2026 the operator was preparing to start construction, and the city expected the Hele Plaza and Water Landscape Park piers to be finished by the end of 2026 (UDN, July 2026). A planned Star Diamond transport center with parking and shops is still out to tender after two rounds drew no bids; test digs found possible remains of an 1875 Qing fort on the site (Economic Daily News, August 2026).
Timing
The city hasn't published a completion date for the whole district; it's still being finalized. Current listings and reports point to the first homes being handed over around 2029 to 2030, with later projects running to 2032 or 2033, and nothing announced yet for the plots sold in September 2026.
Projects underway
- 百慶擎川, by Bai Ching (百慶建設). At Jinhua New Road and Daliang Road (金華新路與大涼路), on a 1,166-ping site: two 27-floor towers over five basement levels, with 240 homes, 9 shops and 301 parking spaces. The homes are three-bedroom units of about 44 to 56 ping. The developer lists a lobby, cooking classroom, banquet hall, swimming pool and gym; a reinforced-concrete structure with a seismic building label; gold-level green building and silver-level intelligent building labels; and fittings including YKK AP windows, Mitsubishi elevators, TOTO and GROHE bathrooms and Rinnai and LEICHT kitchens. Architect 王東奎建築師事務所, contractor 尚欣營造. Sales launched in March 2026, and by September 2026 excavation had reached the second basement level; listings give completion in the fourth quarter of 2033. There's no published price list, but recorded pre-sale deals in July and August 2026 ranged from about NT$424,000 to NT$505,000 per ping, from the government's actual-price register as shown on 591. → Developer's site · Video (591, YouTube) · 591 listing · Actual-price register
- DIAMOND ONE (三發DIAMOND ONE), by San Fa (三發地產). On a 724-ping site: 24 floors over five basement levels, with 176 homes, 8 shops and 6 offices in the current listing, and 190 parking spaces. Two- and three-bedroom homes of about 25 to 57 ping. Architect 王東奎建築師事務所, contractor 京富祥營造; the developer says the interior common areas were designed by MVRDV. Sales opened in September 2024, the basement foundations were finished by July 2026 with the ground-floor structure underway, and listings give completion in the second quarter of 2029. Asking prices at launch were reported at NT$500,000 to NT$600,000 per ping; recorded deals from 2025 to August 2026 ranged from about NT$414,000 to NT$554,000 per ping, mostly in the mid NT$400,000s, from the actual-price register as shown on 591. → 591 listing · Video (developer, Facebook)
- 遠雄蘊合, by Farglory (遠雄建設). On the 1,467-ping plot bought in 2024: 27 floors over six basement levels, with 425 homes, 12 shops and 491 parking spaces. Two-bedroom homes of about 26 to 31 ping and three-bedroom homes of about 39 to 43 ping. Architect 王東奎建築師事務所, contractor 遠雄營造; the NT$4.08 billion construction contract was approved in June 2025 (cnyes, June 2025). Basement work was underway by April 2026 and sales opened in June 2026. Listings give completion in the third quarter of 2030, though Farglory said in 2024 it expected completion around 2032. Recorded pre-sale deals in July and August 2026 ranged from about NT$444,000 to NT$526,000 per ping, from the actual-price register as shown on 591. → 591 listing
Pingshi special district (平實營區), East District
The second area we looked at closely. It's a former army camp and military village on the East District and Yongkang border, redeveloped into a 42-hectare district around a central park of about 7 hectares, next to the Veterans General Hospital branch and across Zhonghua East Road from the 南紡 shopping center (ETtoday, July 2023). A transit hub (平實轉運站) is under construction; its opening date has moved more than once, and reports have ranged from 2026 to the end of 2028.
- Finished: the first project, 世界·巨星 (176 homes), was handed over in 2024; resales that year reached about NT$528,000 per ping (ETtoday, September 2024).
- Record prices: 浩瀚無極 (by 豐邑) set Tainan's pre-sale record at NT$697,800 per ping in August 2024 (ETtoday, February 2026). 國城寶實, a public urban-renewal project of 12 residential towers by 國城建設 that broke ground in June 2025, had the city's highest pre-sale price in the first half of 2026, NT$689,000 per ping (Economic Daily News, September 2026).
- Typical: new projects in the district averaged about NT$570,000 to NT$580,000 per ping (UDN, June 2025).
Other areas to watch
The railway corridor, North and East Districts
The first phase of the railway undergrounding opened on 17 October 2026, removing 23 level crossings along 8.23 km, and the old track bed is becoming a green boulevard (Economic Daily News, October 2026). Prices near the line have risen sharply since works began in 2019: around the Shengchan Road crossing to about NT$415,000 per ping, nearly triple (Economic Daily News, October 2026). North District pre-sale highs in 2026 were above NT$600,000 per ping.
Jiufenzi (九份子), Annan District
A newer district built around ecological parks and a new public school, close to the science park. Three projects worth a combined NT$33.8 billion launched in 2025, including a 38-floor riverfront tower, with new prices mostly in the NT$300,000s to 500,000s per ping (ETtoday, May 2025; July 2025). Resale apartments there were reported trading around NT$270,000 to NT$280,000 per ping in 2026.
Shanhua and Xinshi, near the science park
Demand here follows the Southern Taiwan Science Park and TSMC's expansion. Early-2025 pre-sale averages were about NT$373,000 per ping in Shanhua and NT$407,000 in Xinshi (ETtoday, April 2025). The official price index for both has eased since, down about 4% in Shanhua and 7% in Xinshi year on year in 2026.
The market in brief
- Tainan's official residential price index was 136.80 in July 2026 (January 2021 = 100), down about 2% on a year earlier (Economic Daily News, September 2026).
- The citywide pre-sale average rose from about NT$357,000 per ping in 2024 to NT$409,000 in 2025, according to a brokerage's analysis of the government register (NOWnews, February 2026).
- Unsold pre-sale stock is high: at the 2025 pace it would take Tainan more than six years to clear (Economic Daily News, July 2026). In our view, that can mean more room to negotiate.
→ Buying a home in Tainan: who can buy, how it works and the taxes
Sources
As linked above: UDN and Economic Daily News, ETtoday, NOWnews, cnyes and FBS. Project details marked as listings come from property listing sites and the developers; recorded prices come from the government's actual-price register as shown on listing sites. Earlier land sales and pier contract dates were also reported by CNA, the Liberty Times and the Commercial Times. The opinions are ours. Checked October 2026.