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Yup, and loans are also cheap in Japan. You can get a 35 year fixed-rate mortgage at 1.5% APR [1]. Build a new 3 bedroom house for JPY 20,000,000 (~$185K USD),
by freetime2 6y ago
Yup, and loans are also cheap in Japan. You can get a 35 year fixed-rate mortgage at 1.5% APR [1]. Build a new 3 bedroom house for JPY 20,000,000 (~$185K USD), and you're paying JPY 61,000 (~$560) per month for a brand new house designed to your tastes, with all the modern conveniences (note this doesn't include cost of land).
As an example of what that might get you, here's one of the first search results that comes up when looking for new houses in Omiya: https://www.athome.co.jp/kodate/6971997067/ https://www.athome.co.jp/kodate/6971997067/. The monthly payment on this house (including land) would be JPY 95,500 (~$880 USD).
I personally bought my house used, but I can also understand why almost all of my neighbors chose to build new houses.
[1] https://www.shinseibank.com/english/housing/loan_kinri.pdf https://www.shinseibank.com/english/housing/loan_kinri.pdf