There are cultural differences here. Japanese houses are seen as depreciating assets, as nobody wants to live in an old house. See https://www.economist.com/fin

There are cultural differences here. Japanese houses are seen as depreciating assets, as nobody wants to live in an old house. See https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2018/03/15/why-japanese-houses-have-such-limited-lifespans https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2018/03/15/w... As a result, the phenomenon of hoarding real estate for profit simply doesn’t exist. And the regular tear down of old houses allows density to increase rapidly, at the expense of building waste.