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> If you don't own a home, you pay rent, and rent increases over time. That's not necessarily true. I live in Japan. While the price of land may raise, the pri

> If you don't own a home, you pay rent, and rent increases over time. That's not necessarily true. I live in Japan. While the price of land may raise, the price of houses only goes down. As for rent, it looks flat.

seanmcdirmid 8y ago
Japan is unique in how housing deprecates over time. Rentals also kind of works like that in the states; with older properties becoming cheaper to rent as newer stock fills the high end.
chongli 8y ago
You could also argue that Japan's extremely low crime rate makes it a safe place for families to live. But good luck getting the US crime rate down to those levels. Japan is an outlier in so many ways that it's not useful to use the country for comparison. It has a completely unique culture and an almost totally homogenous population, ethnically and culturally. I have yet to see anyone put forth a realistic proposal for achieving the social harmony of Japan in a country as diverse as the United States.
- madengr 8y ago
  You simply make it homogeneous ethinically and culturally, but that is not the politically correct solution.
- mmirate 8y ago
  Well, if different courts were allowed to exist in the same geographical area, with different laws, selling their services (and their laws) to customers, competing for these customers, and negotiating between themselves as to how inter-court disputes should be resolved ... then different cultures living in the same places could live by the laws that best suited them, with maximally-efficient interaction with other cultures/courts, without people having to geographically segregate themselves into multiple homogeneous nations (such a transition being inefficient and outright disgusting). But that won't happen, because everyone's minds are married to the idea that law must be provided by a monopoly called "government".
freeflight 8y ago
Japan also had a negative population growth for quite a while now, which translates to less demand and too much supply. In that regard, I'm not at all surprised about prices for houses going down, probably plenty of them on the market. Just like flat rents make sense, wouldn't want to lose your tenant due to increasing rent when he has plenty of other options. Tho don't urban population centers still see rising rents and house prices?

seanmcdirmid 8y ago

Japan is unique in how housing deprecates over time. Rentals also kind of works like that in the states; with older properties becoming cheaper to rent as newer stock fills the high end.

chongli 8y ago

You could also argue that Japan's extremely low crime rate makes it a safe place for families to live. But good luck getting the US crime rate down to those levels. Japan is an outlier in so many ways that it's not useful to use the country for comparison. It has a completely unique culture and an almost totally homogenous population, ethnically and culturally. I have yet to see anyone put forth a realistic proposal for achieving the social harmony of Japan in a country as diverse as the United States.

madengr 8y ago
You simply make it homogeneous ethinically and culturally, but that is not the politically correct solution.
mmirate 8y ago
Well, if different courts were allowed to exist in the same geographical area, with different laws, selling their services (and their laws) to customers, competing for these customers, and negotiating between themselves as to how inter-court disputes should be resolved ... then different cultures living in the same places could live by the laws that best suited them, with maximally-efficient interaction with other cultures/courts, without people having to geographically segregate themselves into multiple homogeneous nations (such a transition being inefficient and outright disgusting). But that won't happen, because everyone's minds are married to the idea that law must be provided by a monopoly called "government".

freeflight 8y ago

Japan also had a negative population growth for quite a while now, which translates to less demand and too much supply. In that regard, I'm not at all surprised about prices for houses going down, probably plenty of them on the market. Just like flat rents make sense, wouldn't want to lose your tenant due to increasing rent when he has plenty of other options. Tho don't urban population centers still see rising rents and house prices?