Job Discussion Forums

[sidjameson]

Anybody out there bought their own apartment or house in Japan? Coming from the Uk I have seen house prices rocket over the last few years. To the extent that people with modest homes have made more from their property than from their salary.
So with the Japanese economy supposedly having turned the corner and with prices here seeming pretty reasonable nowdays expecially compared to their prices 10 years ago it feels like it could be a good time to buy.
Renting is of course dead money too.
The thing is though that I have no idea about the market here or such things as property tax. In England the market is fluid and houses are bought and sold all the time. Buy and sell 3 years later can bring substantial gains. Do you think it would be the same here? I guess borrowing money might be a problem too.
Anybody have any experience that they want to share?

[Gordon]

Sorry I don't have any hard evidence, but the Japanese people I've spoken to on this topic, say to stay away. The market here has not bottomed out in their opinion (one person was a real estate agent). You're right, the prices are much lower than they used to be, but still inflated. Our landlord bought our house last year and she paid about 1.2 million US (two adjoining houses; we live in one and she in the other). Yikes and the rent is only 55,000 yen/month. I guess it really depends in the area you're living in of course.

[Mtnkiwi]

From what my wife and others have told me property value depreciates in this country. Hard for me to get my head around coming from a country, as you do, where house prices seem to be constantly appreciating.

As an example, my father-in-law bought a house for about NZ$1Million ten years ago, it is now valued at less than half that. The land price is the same, but the structure has lost its value. Admittedly this is somewhat tied-up with the bubble economy. Despite the bubble economy, the fact is that houses are like cars here, only new is good. NZers tend to buy well-built houses made 150years ago, I don't see any houses in my area that look like they could even last that long.

If you have the money to buy, buy a vacant block and rent it out as car parks, that will pay for your rent. At this stage you can't go wrong with land.

[SEndrigo]

Great topic!

I know someone who has bought properties by going through listings in the court system (according to him, every prefecture has a district court, in which there are listings of homes you can buy).

This link might be interesting for you:

http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/42/Real_Estate_in_Asia.html

And here is an example of what he is talking about:

http://www.jaja.co.jp/okayama-chisai/

This might be completely wrong, but could what Gordon was referring to (a US $1.2 million house with a rent of 55,000) be the reason why landlords make you pay the key money....to make up for lost income?

[SEndrigo]

[Glenski]

More than the matter of money is the issue of whether you need a certain visa (or even permanent residency) to own property in Japan.
http://www.tabunka.org/newsletter/immigration_p2.html

Does anyone have a final word on this, and a source to back it up?

[shmooj]

Buying property in Japan has got to be dead money. Land on the other hand is not.

I would steer well clear of any property investment simply because the infrastructure of buildings is designed to need demolishing and rebuilding every 30 or so years.

Land, OTOH, is likely to make serious gains over the next 20 or so years as the economy recovers and the population starts once more to grow.

But it would be a long long term investment.

I would also be hesitant comparing property investment in the UK to any kind of investment in Japan. Like any investment, you should know your stuff well before parting with any money.

[PAULH]

[Iwantmyrightsnow]

[SEndrigo]

[Iwantmyrightsnow]