Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
Unless I'm doing the arithmetic wrong, seven million yen per year would be very roughly US$70,000. This doesn't seem like a particularly high annual salary for an expat in Tokyo unless it's an English teacher, nanny, university graduate student employee, charity worker, etc. I wouldn't expect expats earning not much over US$70,000 (say US$100,000-200,000 per year) to be very interested in buying real estate in the Tokyo area.
While it is not a high salary, comparatively speaking, it very sufficient and much higher than the salary of many young people here buying property in Tokyo. Interest on mortgages is less than 1% and deposits are negotiable. That salary level is ample to buy property in central Tokyo without any doubt. You would expect a monthly payment of $1200 or so on a $500,000 apartment of which there many available. That includes management fees. To rent an apartment in Tokyo of any reasonable quality would cost that or more and not accrue an asset.