Tokyo apartment prices don’t go up… Real estate myth broken Japanese Kang Young-yeon’s interview

“What is a house for me?” “Interview House” started with this question.

Products with investment value, the space where I live. In the meantime, I would like to tell you an honest story about a house that you may be wandering about. It’s not a bad thing to buy an apartment that is worth climbing. It wouldn’t be a sin to make money with it. But it won’t be the absolute good that everyone should pursue.

I am not trying to give an answer through an article. I have no intention of judging who is right or wrong. The purpose is to listen to and share stories about the space each person wants through interviews with various people.

I hope this will be an opportunity for people reading this to think about the house I want. Interviews try to meet and hear as many different people as possible from age, profession, education, region, etc. If you would like to share your opinion or recommend someone around me, please contact us by email. I will visit you in person.

Attorney Song Chang-seok is a third-year-old Korean-Japanese. While working as a lawyer in Japan, he has been training at a Korean law firm since last year. He said that he was surprised that the monthly rent was relatively cheap while the house was expensive. In Japan, he explained that with 1 billion won, you can buy a 25 pyeong apartment in the best area in Tokyo. Instead, the rent for a family apartment in Tokyo is more than 2 million won.

Japan also said that not many people buy real estate for investment purposes. It is because of the memory of the collapse of the real estate bubble (bubble) in the 1990s. “After the bubble burst, the safety myth that’real estate prices do not fall’ broke,” he said. “In Japan, when buying and selling real estate, the risks (risks) that can lead to price declines are considered very carefully,” he explained. .

◆Tokyo apartment prices do not go up

Attorney Song graduated from the University of Tokyo Law School and has worked as a lawyer at a large Japanese law firm since 2013. When he worked as a lawyer, he lived in an apartment in Koishikawa, Bunkyo-ku, downtown Tokyo. He said that Bunkyo-ku is a residential area for middle-class residents, with no entertainment facilities, and many educational institutions such as the University of Tokyo, making it a good place to live. Among them, he explained that Koishikawa is a particularly popular neighborhood. “When I was in law school at the University of Tokyo, I lived in a few stops away by subway (Kita-ku) because I didn’t have money, but I was envious of my rich friends living in Bunkyo-ku,” he recalled.

In Japan, like Koishikawa, there are places that are recognized as rich and envy, but there is not much difference between neighborhoods like Korea. There is also not much demand to buy a house for investment. That’s why the house is cheap. Attorney Song said that for about 1 billion won, you can buy a 25 pyeong apartment in the best area in Tokyo.

The main reason is that the Japanese who have suffered from the collapse of the real estate bubble are not attracted to real estate investment. Attorney Song said, “Until the bubble period, I thought that if real estate is an absolute safe asset, the price is unlikely to fall and will only rise. But the bubble burst and the safety myth broke, and people thought carefully about buying and selling.” He explained.

One reason is that loans are not easy. He said, “If you want to buy an apartment worth 1 billion won, you have to earn 150 million won per year to pass the loan screening,” he said. “The number of people who can buy real estate is small.”

Actually, the price of Japanese houses doesn’t go up much. Some of the apartments in the metropolitan area of ​​Tokyo’s metropolitan area rise, but if they are old or far from the station, the price will drop. Attorney Song explained that “the polarization between houses is getting worse,” and “it needs attention because there is a possibility that the price of the house will drop.”

◆Buy a house you want to live for a lifetime

For that reason, Japanese people say that when buying a house, they choose a place where they are comfortable to live, and where they can live a lifetime, rather than expecting a rise in prices. He said that the house he wanted to buy was an apartment in Koishikawa where he lived as a lawyer. At least, it’s a quiet and clean place where you don’t have to worry about falling home prices. He emphasized that “as if you live in Gangnam in Korea, you are considered rich, and if you live in Koishikawa in Japan, you think so,” he said. “It is attractive that there are no harmful facilities around and the environment is clean.”

He also said that he had never thought of making money by investing in real estate. In fact, there were times when I regretted that thought. The price of the house in Koishikawa, where he lived, rose 1.5 times from 2013 to 2019. He regretted, “If I bought a house in 2013, I would have made that much money, and now I think I would have a leisurely life when I went abroad for training.” But I’m still cautious about buying a house. It is because I think that I can fall anytime as much as I climbed.

He said he understands Koreans who buy houses to make money. He also said that if he was born and raised in Korea, he would have done so. He said, “I am a third-generation Korean-Japanese citizen and have a Korean nationality, but because I was born and raised in Japan, I am more familiar with the work culture, so I have a conservative side in investment.” Said.

He pointed out that the rent in Korea is really cheap as an advantage of living in Korea. “In Japan, the monthly rent for an 18 pyeong apartment was 2.2 million won, but in Korea, less than half of a 16 pyeong officetel is 1 million won. I was surprised that the monthly rent was too cheap in Korea.”

◆I dream of living in a country after retirement

He said that if you choose to buy a house, you will be the first to consider the safety of your assets. It is explained that there is no need to climb, but he wants to buy a house that will not degrade the value of his assets. Along with this, he said he wants to live in a place that is close to the company and has a high quality of life. He said, “I can get to work in less than 30 minutes, there are parks around, and I want to find a house in a quiet and convenient place to live,” he said.

He said the house he wanted to live the most was a country house in the United States. He was the first to live in a house while attending law school in Virginia, USA for a year from 2019. He said he liked the spaciousness of the usable space, the well-equipped courtyard, and the quiet surroundings. I also liked the American culture that is friendly to dogs and children. “It was nice to have a golf course 10 minutes away by car,” he explained. “If I retire, I want to get out of the city center and live in a country life.”

The most desirable component in your home is a bathtub. It is an important routine for Japanese people to take a bath every evening. He said that it was very regretful that there was only a shower booth while living in an officetel after coming to Korea. He said he wants to have a spacious living room where he can relax with his dog, and his own library where he can work and read books without being disturbed by others. He explained, “In Japan, as the number of working from home has increased since Corona 19, there have been many cases of having to work from home,” he explained. “A separate space is required.”

For him, home is a’place where you can take a break from work’. He emphasized that “a lawyer at a large law firm has no choice but to live a work-oriented life and is always in tension when working or going to the court,” he said. “The place where you can relieve such tension and completely rest is at home,” he stressed.

Reporter Kang Young-yeon [email protected]