In recent years, not only in China's north, Shanghai and Guangzhou, housing prices have soared, but also Japan's housing prices have risen at a pace that is not inferior. According to statistics, the average selling price of a new apartment in Tokyo has reached 67.02 million yen (about 3.75 million yuan). This is up 10.1 percent from the year earlier, surpassing 61.37 million yen (1991) before Japan's bubble economy burst. It should be said that the average annual income of Japanese office workers was higher in 1991 than in 2020.
In 2020, the annual income of Japanese office workers was 4.33 million yen. For example, an apartment with an average price of 67.02 million yen would take 15.5 years to buy a new home without eating or drinking. In addition, parents will not help buy a house, so most of the young people in Japan have no chance of buying a house and live by renting a house.
Where are the most expensive listings in Tokyo?
It is generally considered to be the "gulf area" where Tokyo Bay is located. This is where the Tokyo Olympic Village is located, and house prices are rising through the "Olympic light". Of course, this is a new development area, unlike the chaotic planning of Tokyo's old town. In addition, the night view is very beautiful, and it has always been sought after by buyers and investors.
Average house prices in the Bay Sea area: between 50 million and 200 million yen. For example, a 3-minute walk from Ariake Station, the 18th floor of a 33-storey high-end apartment, is recently for sale. The indoor area is about 70 square meters, three bedrooms and one living room, and the price is 97 million yen (about 5.45 million yuan), and the price of the 43 square meters one bedroom and one hall is 55.5 million yen (about 3.1 million yuan).
In addition, around Yamanote Line station in Chiyoda, Chuo-ku, Minato-ku, Shinjuku-ku, And Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, etc., there is very little land available for building apartments, and the housing prices in these areas are more than 100 million yen.
Why have house prices kept rising?
People concerned about Tokyo real estate said that there are many reasons, according to the analysis, there are mainly the following:
(1) The apartment is not in sufficient supply
In 2004, there were 85,429 new houses (apartments) newly listed in the three prefectures of Tokyo, compared with 27,228 in 2020, which is only about 1/3 of what it was in 2004. On the other hand, during this period, especially after the 2008 world economic crisis and the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, the number of developers of new buildings also decreased by 3/4. The number of new apartments has been reduced by developers, which has led to a significant reduction in the number of new apartments. The supply is insufficient, and there are many people who invest or just need it, so the price of apartments has risen across the board.
(2) Mortgage interest rates are low
Compared with the 7.32% (average, fixed) mortgage interest rate in 1991, the average mortgage interest rate in Japan is now 1.33%, almost reaching an all-time low, especially the floating interest rate as low as 0.45%, which has greatly stimulated the demand for housing. If you miss such a low interest rate, you will regret the feeling of a lifetime. It is said that young people who were expected to buy a house at the age of 40 or so have also begun to think about saving money and buying the house first. According to the data, 42.3% of young people have the intention to buy a house.
(3) Land prices are rising
The land price in Tokyo's 23 wards was only 484,000 yen per square meter in 2012, and now it is 631,400 yen. In just nine years, land prices have risen by nearly 24%, resulting in new home prices also rising. In general, apartment prices in Japan have fallen until the end of 2012 since the bursting of the bubble economy in the last century. After Tokyo won the right to host the Olympic Games in 2013 (2020), house prices and land prices entered an upward trajectory. In 2012, I invested in a small apartment in Kichijoji Temple, Tokyo, and the market price has now about doubled compared to when I bought it. Of course, this rate of return cannot be compared with that of Kitakami, but it also shows that Japan's housing prices have come out of the trough.
(4) The apartment is more valuable than a family building
Almost all japanese household buildings are made of wood, so theoretically, after 20 years, the value of buildings on the ground will tend to be zero. That is, a wooden family built with a house age of about 20 years, the price is actually the price of land, and the price of the building part is 0 yen (fixed asset tax is close to 0 yen), of course, this cannot be generalized. However, the apartment is different, the apartment invested by the author has been nearly 40 years old, and the annual fixed asset tax is indispensable, that is, the building part still has value.
It is said that many high-end apartments in the Shinjuku area have been invested by our countrymen. In 2015, a friend of mine invested in a high-end apartment near Shinjuku Station, with an indoor area of 52 square meters. I remember that the price was 48 million yen at that time, and now the market price is around 60 million yen.
In the past, japanese houses became second-hand houses as soon as they arrived. The phenomenon of prices falling since then has ceased to exist for at least the last 10 years. More people see the financial nature of apartments, can maintain and increase in value, and have turned to investment apartments.
(5) House prices in Tokyo are still cheap
Compared with the housing prices in China's first-tier cities in the north, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as in metropolises such as New York and London in the United Kingdom, the housing prices in Tokyo are very cheap, especially second-hand houses. Even in a bustling area like Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, apartments with an indoor area of 60 square meters and a 20-year-old age are only around 30 million yen. Such a price is not difficult for ordinary office workers. More and more people have joined the home buying army, driving tokyo's housing prices to rise.
(6) The number of dual-career families has increased
The number of dual-career families with an annual income of 7 million yen in Japan is increasing year by year. According to statistics, in 2020, there are 340,000 families with an annual income of more than 7 million yen, an increase of 130,000 over 2013. Don't underestimate these 130,000 households, they are theoretically a reserve army for the purchase of high-end apartments. Dual-career families take into account the convenience of their place of residence. With its well-rounded welfare, convenient transportation and good income, Tokyo is a great place for dual-career families.
(7) The influx of overseas investors
In recent years, due to the depreciation of the yen, overseas investors have seen the opportunity of the depreciation of the yen and invested in the Japanese property market. Even if the invested real estate does not rise, if the yen appreciates in the future, it is very good to earn this exchange rate difference. Let me give you an example. For example, in 2009, when I bought an apartment for 100 million yen, it cost 8.5 million yuan. Today, it only costs 5.6 million yuan to buy an apartment at the same price, saving 2.9 million yuan. If you buy it now, when the yen returns to the exchange rate level in 2009, even if the house price does not rise, the exchange rate difference alone will earn 2.9 million yuan.
Analysts say it is precisely because of the depreciation of the yen that overseas investors have even organized groups to buy houses in Tokyo in recent years. Seeing the new real estate with investment value, everyone bought it in a group. Such a large investment has also allowed Tokyo's housing prices to continue to rise.
However, the rise in housing prices in Tokyo is not necessarily a good thing for overseas Chinese living in Tokyo. After xiao Feng, who had been living in Japan for 8 years, got married last year, he still rented a house. The little two have been thinking about waiting for the house price to fall before buying. He said: "I thought that after the Tokyo Olympics, the house prices in Tokyo would pull back, who knows if it is still rising." Buy it now, the house price is at the peak of history, buy it is afraid of regret; do not buy it, if the house price continues to rise, it will regret it. Buy or not buy regret, trouble. ”