Buying a house in Japan

[NoFakie 45]

If you build a half decent one, Japanese houses don't fall apart in 30 years. Some companies guarantee their houses for longer than that. A lot of the mistakes of the past aren't being repeated.

 

UK still looks too expensive to me. I can't see house prices in general bottoming for years. They were hyped far too high. You only have to look at wages, unemployment, and low availability of cheap credit to see that recovery will be very slow.

 

The other one to watch with houses is that local governments will increasingly turn the screw on taxing them. Loads of local governments are insolvent and homeowners are an easy target.

[bobby12 0]

My impression of JP building companies is that they just try to scam as much as they can, and will happily sell you a house of straw for 3000man. This is all just based on hearsay, but to some extent you can see it when looking at houses that are even only 15 years old. I hope they have got their act together, but it just seems like a corrupt industry.

 

UK housing is pricey, but then again you can buy a decent fairly new 3 bed place for around 180K in the home counties. Thats about 4000man, similar price to what you would pay for a tiny plot and simple place in japan. Ignoring general price of living, I think you get more for the same money in the UK (more land, bigger rooms, decent garden, stronger construction) outside of the hotspots like London.

[Ocean11 0]

It's apparently the goal of the Japanese government to replace the current housing stock with houses built to last 100 years. Some of the housing companies are incorporating that sort of thing in their advertising now. Most of the imported housing should last a long time, as long the foundations were built properly. We ran into builders of quality Northern European style houses who claimed that their houses were consistently maintaining their value.

 

The benefit of designing your own house is that you can have a chin-up bar with a custom slot in the ceiling for your head. But to my mind the real point of getting a house is to have some land as well to grow stuff on.

 

bobby12, 4000 man is a bit more than what we paid for a solid house and a decent garden, with shops, schools and library nearby.

 

And rather spiffing views.

 

 

[shadowtec 0]

The idea of a Holiday home to escape the aussie summer is growing on me (I have to count my millions first (or lack of them))

[RobBright 35]

Same here - the missus and I are looking into buying/building a house over here - we both know that the deposit isn't cheap, looking at around 5million yen (still some way to go :S).

 

In terms of location, I would rather live out in the sticks a bit more, because of the rumoured cheaper, and more bang for you buck, land whilst she HATES cold weather, which rules out most of Northern Japan.

 

In regards to this, what is the policy of insulation and government subsidies? DO the government give out breaks or do they just leave you on your own?

[gerard 6]

Seems like the interest rate for a housing loan is about 1% cheaper than the normal rate. Plus it seems like the Government gives you an extra 1% cash back every year. That's what I've heard anyway.

[Hotaka Scott 0]

Have heard that some towns/cities with declining populations will offer financial incentives to people who move in and build a house.

[shadowtec 0]

Originally Posted By: Hotaka Scott

Have heard that some towns/cities with declining populations will offer financial incentives to people who move in and build a house.

any of them in a snow area ??

[thursday 1]

You can bet there are.

[Hotaka Scott 0]

Originally Posted By: shadowtec

Originally Posted By: Hotaka Scott

Have heard that some towns/cities with declining populations will offer financial incentives to people who move in and build a house.

any of them in a snow area ??

According to wifey, you've just got to ask about it at city hall. Our town apparently offers 600,000 yen per year for 2 years to people moving in and building a new house. Not a bad chunk of change.

[Zer0star 0]

Just to take this informative thread in a different direction...

 

a lot of ads on tv are promoting solar panels for new houses. there seems to be some goverment incentives and the electricity company will buy your excess electricity for double the price. i've also noticed a push for the fuel cells （燃料電池）to store up electricity during the day and use it the heat your hot water etc at night. at the moment i'm living in an all electricity apartment (オール電化）and it's so much cheaper than gas cause of the cheaper night rates you can get. (about 1/4 of the price from 11-7). When i eventually build a new house i will definitely go for all electricity. I wonder if you could get enough sun that you could live without paying for electricity if the fuel cells could produce enough power at night. Add in a rechargable electric car and you'll be living in the future right now...

 

now the questions.. has anyone put in solar panels? how were the cost benefits? for the people living in hokkaido or nagano, does anyone bother with them there? you wouldn't catch too much sun in the winter and would be useless under a few metres of snow.

[Zer0star 0]

okay so i should have looked it up before i posted but i just found some more info on the fuel cells -

there are 6 companies at the moment who sell them and cost around 3,200,000 yen (about 40K AUS) but up to 1,400,000 can be subsidized by the government. They are calling the system Ene　Farm （エãƒãƒ•ã‚¡ãƒ¼ãƒ ï¼‰

 

Once these things get a bit cheaper i'm sure they are gonna take off.

[bobby12 0]

gas is nicer for cooking

[Zer0star 0]

the new 200V electric cook tops are just as good as gas i think.

 

it's nothing like the old electric stove i had back in Aus..

[bobby12 0]

if it can cook properly and heat a shower properly then i would consider all-denki. but my experience with those has been not so good in the past.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

I have seriously looked into solar panels here in Aus, even to the point of signing up for an instal (they had a backlog so we had to wait 2 months)...however by the time they were ready to install the government had changed the rebate and we no longer qualified.

 

It is expensive infant technology to install at full price, particularly when the buy back system is still not sorted properly. I think they are buying back at the same rate as they are selling in most captial cities, some are not buying back at all yet.

 

There needs to be a big push like there was in Germany in all countries, particularly the high energy consuming ones, where there are install subsidies and signifigant buy backs guarenteed for the first few years. In Germany I think it was something like double the sell price paid for electricity for the first 5 yrs and then reverting to an on par price. Peak demand for electricity is in the middle of the day as industry requires it, and buildings in the cities need lighting, computers and airconditioning - this is usually the time when most homes (equipped with solar panels) are empty - therefore sending thier power back in to the grid - allowing government and power companies the luxury of not having to build more power plants - why?.. because the power plants are spread out all over suburbia on peoples roofs.

[Zer0star 0]

exactly!

 

works well in theory hey. Here in Japan they are guaranteed to buy back excess electricity at double the normal price for 10 years.

It would work so well in a country like Australia, which sees a lot more sunlight than Japan. They need to make a law requiring all new houses built to have solar panels that produce a certain amount of electricity and a water tank too.

As you said, produces most when the load on the system is at it's peak, in the middle of summer when everyone's got their airconditioners on. I guess the power companies would be worried about loss of revenue and must be close to the governments.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

sucks really, but for us - we have crunched the numbers, and we MIGHT break even after about 20 years the way it stands now. That means I will be 60.

 

Ummm...no. Not financially sound at this point.

[bobby12 0]

there will be something more efficient/economical by then, therefore more sensible to wait. and the result of that is the technology takes longer to develop.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Don't think solar would work so good in the UK.

[shadowtec 0]

Originally Posted By: BagOfCrisps

Don't think solar would work so good in the UK.

Not much "would work so good in the UK"

I still like the idea of having a holiday home close to or at Niseko

/one can dream

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Hey you >>>

[NoFakie 45]

Catching up a bit but....

 

180,000 UK is not 40 million yen. Its more like 29 million. I don't think the UK is a buy yet because prices will have to fall further towards peoples' ability to pay. Its collapsing as the economy tanks and credit is drying up. People couldn't afford houses before, but the credit was there and the prices were going up so everyone was desperate to get in.

 

Two things to consider comparing UK to Japan are the interest rate and the ability to build your own pad. Consider a 25 year, 100,000 UKP (15 million yen mortgage). In Japan you pay 5 million yen in interest over the 25 years. In the UK its 15 million. Also, in the UK it is normally very difficult and very expensive indeed to find a plot to build on with planning permission. The planners are also far stricter. British people do wild things with interiors but not many get to build a whole house. Its a bit of a middle class dream. In Japan, its not such a big deal.

 

Solar in Japan works quite well in some areas. In Nagano, you see quite a lot around Matsumoto, where it doesn't really snow. Japan in general is cloudy so the payback is longer than in Oz or California. For the different water heaters, I think the best one depends on lots of variables including how you use your hot water. Solar hot water + gas backup is cheapest if solar is a goer in your area. If not, Eco-Cute works anywhere regardless of your gas setup. The Ene-farm machines are very efficient, which is great for society, but co-generation equipment strikes me as far too expensive for individual houses. They need to put it into neighbourhoods with one bigger machine for every fifty houses. An Ene-farm thing will cost you two million after subsidies but will save you little money compared to all-denka which can be done much much cheaper. As for cooking, induction cooking hobs are great. Its just as good as gas I reckon, possibly even more controllable.

[Biffa 0]

First timer....

I have bought a house in Hakuba and have been looking into ground source heat pump systems (geothermal heat pump)for heating. My house is near a natural hot spring and I assume that the ground temp at 20 meters or more below the earth must be pretty toasty! Most reports say that the earth has a constant temp of 15 degrees or higher at about 15 - 20 meters deep. In a hot spring area is must be a lot higher.

Does anyone know of an experienced contractor for geothermal systems or knows of anyone that has installed one in the Nagano area?

I love the idea of 100% renewable.

[shadowtec 0]

congrax on the house man... I like to own a holiday house up there one day (as part of my plan for world wide domination)