Buying a house in Japan

BillyBills

Has anyone had any experience with purchasing property in Japan? I hear it’s a lot cheaper than in the UK if you head to the right regions. I’m not that clued up but wanted to hear if anyone has dabbled in that market or knows anyone who has?

Margot123

I always thought property in Japan was incredibly expensive to buy, and that's why most people rent.
Land is at a premium surely? That's probably why most people live in shoebox-sized apartments.

need_an_answer

Property might be cheaper,but I'd guess it was a hell of a commute to work if your not going to relocate too.

cloo

Depending on what you want to do with it, bear in mind that property in Japan is a depreciating asset. People basically abandon older houses rather than sell them on as they're not worth anything - the market works totally differently to here!


https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/16/japan-reusable-housing-revolution

bitsandpieces

It's a very different market. Why are you looking to buy there? If it's because you're relocating there, you might want to live there for a bit before buying (that's what the only person I know who has bought there did). If it's for an investment, hopefully it's as part of a much broader portfolio - in that case, it's worth getting local advice.

davidmcn

Almost all countries have cheaper property than the UK, so...why Japan?

You're probably better asking on a Japanese-themed forum anyway, it's all UK property around here.

Arklight

If you don't speak (and read and write) Japanese you are going to have a tough time starting a J-Property empire.

You are probably best off looking at expat forums, maybe ESL ones.

https://apartments.gaijinpot.com/en/rent/listing?agent_id=12

This might give you an idea of rental prices achievable, but, like the other poster said. Japanese property is not a get rich quick (or at all) scheme.

Japan has some of the lowest residential building standards in the world and most properties are considered to have a 25 year life span.

Houses / apatos have about the same kind of depreciation as a car and the Japanese view them about the same. Brand new is desirable, 2 - 3 years old is about respectable if you can't afford new. After that you're firmly in used territory.

10 years old is old. After that you're mostly paying for the land value.

Bear in mind that even if you manage to make a purchase and find an agent, you can't just kick tenants out because the wind changed, like in the UK. It can take one to two years to evict someone for non payment of rent, and they can fend off the bailiffs indefinitely by making token payments. And that's for Japanese people in Japan.

I would look elsewhere.

sal_III

BillyBills wrote: »

Has anyone had any experience with purchasing property in Japan? I hear it’s a lot cheaper than in the UK if you head to the right regions. I’m not that clued up but wanted to hear if anyone has dabbled in that market or knows anyone who has?

The exact opposite is also true, there are dirt cheap properties in some parts of the UK, guaranteed to be cheaper than prime locations in Japan.

If you are thinking of reallocation, property prices are far from top of the list of requirements, especially when talking about Japan, with totally different culture and language to the UK.

If you are thinking of investment, Japan with it's decades of stagnation and deflation is again not the best place to invest in property.