keihin_242

mjm

This will depend on the area nut anything in the central 3 wards + Shinjuku and Shibuya will be fine and Meguro and Setagaya are also well positioned for great resale values. Anything further out and it is riskier but there are always exceptions.

mjm

I think the key thing is getting steel frame construction or at the very least Steel Reinforced Concrete (SRC). It sounds like you chose a real winner here.

groovbusta

Yeah, we bought in Ebisu from Mitsubishi Jisho so should be ok.

mjm

Fantastic investment especially as the wealthier population nexus slides towards Ebisu and Meguro.

evergrn

Okay. Thanks for clarifying that the practice of home inspection at the time of purchase is not unccomon in Jpn.

Very good information in this thread, that's for sure.

YariGuy

Now that the dollar is so high against the Yen (today at close to 146), has anyone thought of investing in Japanese real estate? I see Japan entering a period of higher inflation which will increase asset prices in nominal terms, plus I don't see the Yen remaining at such low levels for a very long time.

joejones

Quite a few. Chinese money is pouring into the Tokyo condo market lately and creating what seems to be a small bubble. Those properties are probably terrible investments at the prices currently being paid. Land and detached houses still seem to be pretty cheap, even in Tokyo and other major cities. Construction costs are currently very high due to labor shortages and the effect of the exchange rate on imported materials.

alan11

Ha ha, "investing" is not necessarily the term I would use in regards to purchasing property in Japan. With a declining population and a massive surplus of unoccupied homes (I think is about 8 million empty places),, there is also the fact that housing in Japan devalues over time, much the same way a car depreciates in value.

Unlike most other first-world countries, real estate generally goes down in value in Japan because people prefer to buy only newly built dwellings, and anything over 25 years old is simply considered not worth anything (those familiar with Japan will also know of this number regarding the "Christmas cake" concept with women, though anyone with a bit of a brain will realize that both with housing and with finding a partner this irrationality presents a lot of great opportunities, as long as you are interested in a life-long commitment, and not just a turn-over "investment").

As noted by joejones , Chinese are buying property in Tokyo, and also in many other places, especially Kyushu. Though this is now giving an injection for price increases, much of this isn't necessarily for financial investment, but more like a bug-out plan for their own domestic troubles.

For one, many of these purchases are by Taiwanese, who worry about a brewing war or embargo with mainland China, and are seeking a re-location option to keep just in case. Others buying property in Japan are from Hong Kong, who see the writing on the wall with soon losing their autonomy (its already happening actually) and also want to have a back-up for when that inevitably happens. And for those from the mainland who are buying property in Japan, most of those are just looking to escape their own economic, authoritarian, and environmental issues (aside from their draconian Covid response, just look at the news on the current Beijing floods, or with the Country Garden debacle).

So if looking to own a home indefinitely as a residence and without seeking any financial return, yeah, there are lots of potentially great options that can be had for what you may consider a very good price (mostly outside of Tokyo and Okinawa). But if looking to do so only as an real estate investment without actually living there, then its a total gamble, and the chips are stacked against you.

5khours

Bought a house in the countryside 40 years ago. It's probably lost 75% of its value, but considering the use I got out of it, it turned out to be a great investment.

williamluk

Unlike the US or some European market, condo, especially the higher end one, in general hold better value in Japan. It’s a straight line depreciation for landed houses in Japan. The usual builder grade bldgs basically worth nothing after 20-25 years. Don’t think the concept of fixer-upper exists in Japan. Anyway, agreed it’s not really a market worth investing given the demographics (oh and don’t forget the capital gain tax if there is any gain lol, 40% if hold under 5 year and 20% if more than 5).

YariGuy

Ok, I've been convinced. It doesn't seem like a great idea...

If and when Japan's demographic / immigration trends change I'll revisit, but I won't be holding my breath.

Q Shoe Guy

Is there a route to PR/citizenship via real estate/asset purchase in Japan which allows one to park their cash (kind of like a golden visa etc.) then send the kids over to live. go to school while the adult(s) stay behind and work in their birth countries ?

alan11

No. There is nothing of the sort. Simply owning property in Japan does not entitle someone to a resident visa. But if you just want your kids to go to school here, you can probably just get them student visas (though they would probably need to be in a private school which takes int'l students, not a regular public school)

Its possible to get a business owner's visa for starting a new company (its not that complicated actually and the initial investment can be less than US$ 35,000), but it can't really be a shell company and would need to show viability and/or profitability in order to get the visa re-newed. But like with any resident visa, you must pay pension, health care, and taxes on all income, which for any resident of Japan includes any income generated abroad (if a J-citizen goes abroad to work, they can remove their official residency so as to not be liable for such taxation, but non-citizen residents, including PRs, can not do this).

And as far as "parking cash" in Japan, ha ha, go ahead, you'd love the interest rates here. CDs and savings currently pay less than 0.01% and 10 year bonds also pay zero-point-something. (the fact that Japan has defiantly not jacked up its interest rates like the US is why the dollar-yen exchange rate is currently so out of whack)

joejones

Until you become a permanent resident for tax purposes (i.e. live in Japan for five of the last ten years), any foreign-sourced income only gets taxed in Japan if it is remitted to Japan. So a smart high net worth foreigner would keep their assets overseas and make sure they spend <50% of their time resident in Japan (I know one person who moves back and forth to/from Singapore for this reason).