Out of the city and into the country the prices drop dramatically, I would whole-heartedly agree. She said she wanted a house in Yokohama, the second biggest city in Japan and a short distance from Tokyo, the most expensive city in maybe the most expensive country in the world.

Four out of five homes bought in America are "used". In Japan this number is the opposite. The reason is (according to the book Saying Yes to Japan) is that building contractors have lobbied the Japanese Parliament into taxing the purchase of a used home through the roof. A 1000万 asking price is before the taxes you have to pay to purchase and sell a used home.

A friend of mine's home was damaged in the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. It was monumentally cheaper for them to basically live in a hotel for 2 months and hire contractors to rebuild their house from scratch than it was to purchase a used home.

So, yes, I would not argue there aren't homes for 100,000 USD in Japan, but she was asking about Yokohama, for which I would say "Good luck".

no worries then, and just my mind when thinking of a city is the city and surrounding areas. i never really think of the central part of the city itself when people say a city so that is what i was thinking places 20-30mins from.

i had a feeling taxes/stamp duty etc would be pretty nasty but not sure where to get that info. i'm not even sure i will eventually buy a place in Japan, from current trends i don't think it is a very good investment. in places like australia you are assured of your house's value increasing at a great rate over the years you own it but the same is not to be said for Japan from what i can gather.

mmm's right, i asked a few guys at work today about city-based apartments for under 10million yen and they just laughed... even a 1dk in the city is likely to be double that cost in yokohama/tokyo so it's going to increase a LOT for a full house

yeah, it gets crazy out here because of how expensive the land is

Just for the record, my parents put down about $100,000 as down payment to buy a house in Mitaka, Tokyo.

I think you should have something like that to begin with or otherwise no banks will loan you the money you need to finance your property.

Good luck!!

Welcome tommasi,

Similar in the way I always question why people want to take a "budget" vacation to Japan (as I have said several times, why fly all the way to Japan for a month to live like a homeless person?) Would you really want the cheapest house in one of the most expensive cities in the world?

i think that is more of a personal preference MMM. i for one have lived in an incomplete house that is falling apart all my life. i have no dreams of having a flash amazing expensive house, no matter where i live. I find other things in life to value. so i would have no problem buying a cheap cheap place in one of the most expensive cities in the world, as long as it had the essential things i need. no one is going to buy a place purely on price, it must meet certain requirements.

mind you Melbourne is not that cheap a city, ranked 60 in 2007 for the world an increase of 14 spots from the previous year and i imagine that has only grown further in 2008.