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Not many people talk about Japan when it comes to housing. They seem to have evaded all the unaffordable housing problems that the rest of the world deals with.
by Beaver117 4y ago
Not many people talk about Japan when it comes to housing. They seem to have evaded all the unaffordable housing problems that the rest of the world deals with.
House prices are low, rents are low, population density is high.
How do they do it? Can we do that in the US or the rest of the western world?
- acuozzo 4y agoFrequent Earthquakes make housing a rapidly depreciating asset in Japan. Homes are torn down and new ones are built all the time which is why they have such interesting architecture. There relatively few old homes in Japan.
- Beaver117 4y agoInstead of making eathquake proof houses they tear down and rebuild? Doesn't sound right. I thought the rapid depreciation is because of some government policy.
- xboxnolifes 4y ago> How do they do it? Maybe I'm naive, but it seems obvious: smaller plots, denser arrangements, and better zoning rules. Plus I'm pretty sure money isn't cheap in Japan and land is primarily bought in cash. Still, in the US land/housing is pretty cheap... outside of the popular areas. I'm not saying this to say everyone should just move out of cities, but to show that it's not an American issue, but an urban American issue. Our current rules do not scale into urbanism.
- simonsarris 4y agoHome price to income ratio in japan is like double the USA so that certainly doesn't look like an advantage. And that's with them having the huge advantage of declining population. Their population is lower than it was in 1995! US Population increased 25% since then. If they did evade anything, they pretty much have housing on easy-mode by default because of demographics alone. Obviously places like that exist in the US, look at St. Louis. Or some of the rust belt. But nobody is going to think those places figured out something clever.