Tokyo Portfolio explains why Japanese housing is so cheap  

They decrease in value when they age. My uncle had a babyboomer house rebuilt in the 70s, he could spend 200K to renovate it and it'd still be a tear down, or he could rebuild for like 300K and he could get something for it.

buildings in japan are always "temporary" thing. they are not expected to last no more than 30-40 years. and taxed accordingly. there are not much reason(and incentive ) to keep old house and building for long time. the japanese government promote new building because newer building much more earthquake and fire resistant.

​@@fffwe3876 max is 30

All Buildings are largely "temporary". That's how we thought of buildings for thousands of years. The Colosseum for example was at various times an arena, a theater, a church, cemetary, an apartment/workshops, a castle, and a quarry. Nowadays in the United States, we consider everything to be somehow permanent and demand that even how we use buildings to be permanent. You have a house? You want to convert it to a shop? well fuck you. We have a shit ton of unused office space since covid but, we can't convert them to apartments because they are zoned for office space. The Real Estate market in the US is weirdly like a planned market, everything is directed by the municipal government. @@fffwe3876

Funny fact: in Europe we view US houses as "flimsy buildings made out of carton" x) Talk about different perspectives! :D

Did you have to import all that or is there a local supplier of things like triple pane?

Local. I used Hebel Haus and it is a standard option.@@jryanp

What company did you use? If you don't mind sharing

Hebel Haus @@karensurgery3845

What's so bad about just having one bathroom tho?

There's already easy professional terminology to explain this. A half-bath is one with only a toilet and sink. So it's usually like "2 and a half bathrooms" in listings. Not sure why he didn't just say that

​@@busti4552 Have you never lived with a female, even your own mother? Sure men without OCD(not my brother) can shower, shit, and brush their teeth in 15 minutes. But imagine you need to BE somewhere and you have to wait for your mom and your wife to shower and all for 1 hour each first. Good luck not going insane after a few months of that brah!!

@@parasitius I think because most often in Japan, the bath is not in the same room as the toilet

@@parasitius I am from Germany and here most rental flats have a single bathroom that combines shower, sink, toilet and laundry into one room. I never saw it as an issue. I can hold my pee for an hour or so if it is necessary.

And if enough foreign investors try to profit and price out locals, they would probably find it much easier to ban foreign ownership. If real estate investors want to abuse Japanese hospitality, and price out locals, do not expect a good result.

It’s really cheap there too, I haven’t looked in like middle of Tokyo or anything like that but anywhere else it’s cheap. Transit all over the place not like that in USA. Everyone here is greedy, every business the cost of living is terrible here I want out so bad. Also Japanese culture and standards is pretty much as good as it gets, America has none. Sucks you really can’t live there long term or hard to do but even a few months at a time I would be happy, rent is so cheap better off just doing that and going to Indonesia or something similar rest of the time. Western countries are dying and waste of money and to much stress everyone should leave, no one should tell you where you can live and borders really shouldn’t be a thing but that’s another discussion. People who DESERVE to move and can contribute and be a good citizen to a foreign country should be allowed to live there, not like USA getting flooded that’s different there is no plan here for most of these people this country will collapse. But a place like Japan needs people younger people they shouldn’t be so strict, let foreigners buy up the akitas only can help, bring foreign money in I don’t get the stubborness of certain countries but Japan is well run and priced good (even to cheap I argue) so I can’t criticize but aging population needs to be addressed.

I think people commenting don't realize that buying a house in japan for renting investment is not targetted at locals. You target tourists that would pay $200 a night. Easy money.

Hope you find somewhere nice!! : D -editor

You plan to sell only to those who plan to live there full time? I don't think japanese want foreign owners or investors pricing them out of their communities.

Glad you enjoyed it! Please consider subscribing 😄

Glad you enjoyed it!! -editor

Alex is such a great speaker : D -editor

When you know the history of it, it's a horrible name. The blackships forced Japan to open up, and then Europeans and Americans forced Japan to accept foreigner gold at 3x the rate of Japanese gold, it destroyed the Japanese economy, it evolved into hate towards foreigners and a civil war that made the economy even worse. The solution was to return power to the emperor and to build a unified and modern military to create a strong empire so foreigners would no longer be able to coerce Japan, this mindset can be traced up to the Japanese involvement in WWII when the US blocked oil to Japan to try stop Japanese expansion by making Japan weaker which then led them to attack Pearl Harbor. If anything the name just makes me question if the goals of the company benefit the country.

I think you forgot the unequal treaties that came after. Japan spent decades developing to get rid of them and be recognized as a respected nation in their own right. If japan is going to open up to more foreigner renters and working residents, it will probably do it on its own terms. Sorry to burst your bubble.

The word 黒船 (blackship) was created in the 16th century upon the arrival of the first Portuguese vessel. The ships' hulls had been painted with pitch (similar to tar) for water proofing and to resist wood worm.

@@abcdedfg8340no you didn’t burst my bubble😂.

@@gagamba9198 didn’t know that! I guess people just called things the obvious way.

You forgot immigration which is a government policy. You can never build enough houses if you're inviting in the world.

​@@HairyPixels Like Dubai. Yeah. Lots of homeless immigrants there. Not.

@@Basta11 US takes more than 1 million immigrants per year plus illegal immigration. That puts continual pressure on housing. How is that hard to understand?

@@HairyPixels more housing is easy to make. These immigrants work hard and earn. Plenty of money to be made providing for their needs. The difficult part is the politics. Again, all the government regulations aimed to limit housing. Remove those, and you’ll have a construction boom, using labor from those immigrants.

@@Basta111 in 10 people in the US are illegal - over 35 million people. The US is in total collapse but it’s not yet being broadly acknowledged.

Too bad HOA in the US is getting terrible reps for forcing people to sign up and not providng good service.

true!

I moved out from Warsaw, cause it was eating 3/4 of my salary for 34m2 and was threating to grab 4/5 with the inflation spike - I am earning somewhere between the median and the average wage depending on the exact moment so it was a shocker... Tokyo doesn't sound "cheap", but it definitely sounds a little more manageable for an average corporate worker - so it has me interested, even if the cost would be the same nominally, but in perspective... ;)

he's great

I know some people from that general area. One of them confirmed foreign investors made portugal unaffordable for many locals. Japan is an island nation and its government is very strict on immigration. At any moment they could change the rules if citizens started complaining. Just what i read.

Hi there, thanks for the question. I got my loan through Shinsei Bank. You can find all the details to their loan requirements here: www.sbishinseibank.co.jp/english/housing/ Regarding the amount they can loan you, it is based on your previous year's income, and basically they just have a chart that they look at: you earn X you can get Y. They were actually quite helpful throughout the process, and it overall went very smoothly. :) Tobi

Japanese are homogenous in race, ethnicity and culture. It would be borderline impossible with the people from US to do that, the natural animal instinct in the population there just doesn’t land the same way

@@jimbojimbo6873That and I don't think they would have the slightest hesitation to ban foreign ownership of homes if they started to price out local residents or speculate on property markets in a way that hurt locals.

People always talk about how great Japanese public transit is. After visiting what makes Japanese public so good compared with say Europe or even some US cities is that it is filled with Japanese people. So no one doing pullups on the train, no one singing rudely, no one shitting on the floor while claiming to be the reincarnation of Jesus the Christ. Like you see and would see in the US.

I reckon people in Tokyo would love to have Japanese population density. Japan is 340 people per square kilometre but Tokyo is about 20 times that.

Except Thailand doesn't allow foreign ownership. Japan will likely do the same if too many foreigners think they can make a profit by pricing locals out of their own neighborhoods. Just my opinion. But if one plans to live there and raise a family, okay. But if one just wants to speculate on their property, please stay away from japanese real estate. Its a nice country, don't mess it up by driving up their living costs over wages.

Who are the lucky ones who live beside the abattoirs?

And not putting money into housing... you have to factor in the earthquakes. There are building codes for earthquake resilience, but a real big one and everyone's going to be wiped out... so don't put too much of your assets into your house.

Until nature decides to have some fun

Then dont buy propety there unless you want to live there is my advice. They dont need land values being artificially inflated by real estate investors and pushing people into crime to make ends meet. Just my opinion.

I never understood this idea that people stealing laptops at coffee shops is assumed to be "common" in the U.S. It really isnt.

I wonder why that is...

Reason is pretty obvious to me. Strict on crime and living costs are affordable for locals. But i would never leave my valuables out in any city with a housing crisis, too many desperate people who are struggling to make ends meet.

Thanks 😁🙏

In the US zoning laws allow for NIMBY’s to pretty much prevent new development to protect housing values. As a result most new housing has to be “luxury” to even get approved. Only one of the issues though.

As far as I know, no visa tied to purchasing property, but Alex talks about a digital nomad visa towards the end of the interview! -editor

It feels like a double agency fee

Long term foreign residents who have a full-time job at a Japanese company can get a loan from Japanese banks, but there are many rules and checks that they will need to put you through before they give you the money. It is possible, but not easy.

What would be a crazy house? 🤔

@@unpackingjapan i mean, like more of a uniquely architecturally designed house

​@@sonicase there's a youtuber that actually had his own house build for him, quite a project, although not in Tokyo: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Qaj8X3pxxNM.htmlsi=9f_cCKK4n4ysv5Vx

Maybe not fundamental, but it is certainly a contributing factor. A lot of their money comes from pension funds... you might be outbid by your parent's retirement plan.

Corporate ownership of houses in the US is barely 1%.

Some really rich people have vacation homes here. I think Life Where I'm From recently did a video on this -editor

Please do not exploit their hospitality, and help raise their living costs that could lead to other problems. There are actual foreigners who want to live there and raise a family and work, please do not ruin it for them.

@@abcdedfg8340 I have no intention to. I'm just curious on the subject. This is already being done by multiple foreigners and they have no laws in place to stop this and with a dwindling population the amount of property is only going to increase with less Japanese to purchase.

@@skullfullofbats I suspect if it becomes a problem, it will not be hard for them to begin restricting foreign ownership of property. I just hope that enough foreigners respect that country so that the bad apples dont ruin it for everyone else.

Wait 'til someone opens a nightclub above your flat.

@@gagamba9198 why are you trying to dunk on me if you haven’t even googled how Japanese zoning works

Where you going to get those employees? Japan has a labor shortage and that sounds like a terrible job and life, living on site in barracks.

@@susie2251 who the fuck asked you

I respect that. You actually want to contribute to their economy and generate jobs. This is what japan needs, not some speculators or airbnb operators who will just cause the same housing crisis North america is facing. Just my opinion.

It might be relatively easy, and cheap. 🤔

The hard part is the Visa

​@@CandycaneBeyondNewsflash for you. Japanese people don't want mass immigration or too many real estate investors it seems. They probably like being able to afford to live in their own communities. If you want to buy and live there and raise a family, okay. But if you want to be an foreign owner pricing out locals, then don't come to Japan for the purpose of buying a house.

@@CandycaneBeyondYeah, Japan seems to want people who actually want to live there. Not just some investors or real estate speculators who may price out locals. Not saying you are one, just saying, they can be quite firm if they have to be. They have a very cohesive society, they seem to want to preserve it.

Japan has a glut of dentist and they don't make that much money. His friend either was born into money or owns a chain of dental clinics.

_Relative to income_ America's property prices aren't insane. Property price per m2 to income % it's one of the developed world's most affordable. The affordability ratio is calculated by dividing the average property price per square metre by the average _disposable_ household income. The most expensive is South Korea at 59.4%. Japan is 20.4%. France 16.5%. Australia is 16.2%. Germany at 15.3%. Canada 13.6%. Italy 10.7%. And the US is 6.3%. The US is more affordable than Mexico. Only Turkey is cheaper at 4%. US housing size in square feet has almost doubled since the 1950s. This hasn't in most other countries. You have to pay for those extra materials and labour. New suburban housing after WWII was about 1000 sq ft. New suburban housing today outside the growth cities like Atlanta is well above 2000 sq ft. The median size of new homes was 2,412 square feet in 2018. And the quality of materials used is better. Less linoleum and more tile, stone, and wood. More bathrooms. More bedrooms. Larger garages. And you've lost the draw of cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Gary, Green Bay, Cincinnati, Baltimore, St Lous, and Pittsburg. Even Chicago is losing population over the years. Boom cities like San Francisco have quite strict housing regulations to protect the historic character, and building new structures to comply with earthquake zoning adds expense - about 15% extra for base isolation of a building 7 storeys high. And the city squeezes the developer to set aside x% for low income. That means the wealthy pick up that cost.

Haha, thanks

He really does 😅

I'll take that

@@TokyoPortfolioAlex, I just saw this interview. I am looking to rent in Japan for six months at a time. Do you have connection with other realtors that handles lower priced rentals? Or, do you have a section in your company that deals with non high end rentals?

I was thinking Quentin Tarantino.

Even the most "dangerous" places in Japan are pretty safe comapred to almost anywhere else in the world. In Japan the worst case scenario - they migh shout at you some nonsense or push you out of the way. Violent crime rates in Japan are very close to zero.

There's actually a digital nomad visa being introduced! He talks about this at the end -editor

@@unpackingjapanI saw that recently! But from what I understand this wouldn’t allow you to become a citizen long-term

@@slothsarecool Baby steps!😅

I love the baby steps, but the uncertainty in the long run would kill me. Especially if buying a house, since you want that to be long run right?@@unpackingjapan

Maybe you should stay there. Don't buy unless you plan to stay. The locals deserve affordable housing and to be able to stay with their communities.

Thank you for your wholesome comment

Working on moving there

What he meant might be: it is one of the cheapest metropolises like London, Paris, New York, Singapore. But it definitely is the most expensive city in Japan and pretty expensive compared to many other places and countries.

oh there are thousands of Chinese getting their money out of their country by buying up properties in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka etc... which is why housing costs in those places have skyrocketed.