Good news for people looking to get themselves a future home in Japan! Reasons to move into Japan? The land of the rising sun has one of the kindest populations ever, a plethora of dishes indulge in, and you can get houses for free!
A growing number of vacant homes across the country are available for auction on online databases, referred to as “akiya banks “–“akiya” which translates to “vacant house”–with hundreds of houses in a good state for sale for nothing or close to zero, Insider informs. The prices on one specific database do not go more than 30 million yen, or $264,754, and many properties have the tag “gratis transfer” for the value of zero dollars. You pay a couple of taxes and a few agent commission fees, and then the property is yours.
This is part of a federal plan to tackle Japan’s unique housing problem. A report by the government in 2013 revealed that there were nearly eight million abandoned homes across Japan, and the majority of them were in rural areas or near the outskirts of large urban areas, The Japan Times revealed. Fujitsu Research Institute has projected that abandoned homes will increase to over 20 million by 2033, nearly a third of all houses in Japan.
It’s believed that Japan’s akiya oversupply is partly due to its rapidly declining population. As increasing numbers of Japanese citizens decide to drop the bucket or move into retirement residences, a growing number of homes across the country are left empty with no one living in the homes. There aren’t enough youth in the country to fill the void, and those in the present are waiting longer to establish families.
Another cause is the belief in superstition. The properties associated with tragedies like murder, suicide, and “lonely deaths” are thought to bring bad luck to Japanese tradition, making it challenging to sell them for a buyer and contributing to the plethora of vacant homes that are gradually deteriorating across the nation.
In certain instances, governments even offer assistance to those who purchase and improve old buildings. In some other cases, the properties are not technically “free” until you’ve rented them out for a certain number of years, as per the Japanese property website Rethink Tokyo.
Even with these incentives, Japan’s akiya issue will only worsen before it eventually improves. The supply keeps on adding to the market where there is hardly any demand.
Source: Vice
Also read about A Japanese Charity Is Giving Away Abandoned Houses To Single Mothers