There is tremendous housing scarcity where housing is scarce and in demand, such as with transit access to major metro areas. The depreciating housing is in pl

There is tremendous housing scarcity where housing is scarce and in demand, such as with transit access to major metro areas. The depreciating housing is in places people don't want to live. In general modern societies are centralizing in cities to a degree never before seen, but that migration is stymied by catastrophic amounts of NIMBYism and regulation holding back density. In Tokyo most properties don't depreciate that much if at all, and modern Japanese building code means new structures are much more permanent and last longer. It takes time for the culture to shift as with all things, but the Tokyo metro won't stay contrarian to every other metro for long - its been trending away from the always-deprecating building for over 30 years now.