In Japan homes are torn down every 30 years, none older than 1980
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Anonymous
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Interesting read. Logically it makes sense because the structure depreciates.
There is virtually no market for pre-owned homes in Japan, and 60 percent of all homes were built after 1980 http://freakonomics.com/2014/02/27/why-are-japanese-homes-disposable-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-3/ |
Anonymous
| I lived on a base in Japan and the senior officers lived on Captains Hill which was partially made up of these beautiful pre-WWII Japanese homes. They were so beautiful. I cried when I heard they tore them down. |
Anonymous
| I've been to India and lots of buildings there are new too - because the quality of the building sucks and nothing lasts. I'm not sure if this is the case in Japan or not. |
Anonymous
| That's absolutely bizarre. |
Anonymous
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I listened to their podcast. It was pretty fascinating. The average life of house here in the US is 100 years, but only 30 in Japan, so the houses are very artistic and taste oriented because they will be sold for the land then demolished.
This trend of building over and over actually doesn't help their economy because even though there's construction jobs the population doesn't accrue wealth that can be passed down. |
Anonymous
| I listened to this podcast about a month ago and was in awe at it. As a lover of buildings it is a strange concept for sure to just rip something down because it has been "used" |
Anonymous
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It is very fascinating. So much about Japan is so different from us.
My MIL and FIL live in a beautiful house that they had built to their specifications. It is gorgeous but MIL says it has lost 50% of its value since they built it 10 yrs ago. My friend taught for a year in Japan and in the winter, he was miserable and freezing because the homes are disposable and the insulation in his house was nonexistent. 21:20 -- are you seriously comparing India and Japan? You clearly have never been to Japan. Things are built incredibly well there, everything is extremely expensive, the order and the cleanliness is unparalleled. However, they have this culture and tradition where only new homes are valued. |
Anonymous
well, a house built with non-existent insulation does not sound like "built incredibly well" to me. |
Anonymous
| That's sad. We lived in gorgeous old houses in Japan, back in the olden days. (Military brats.) |
Anonymous
Not sure if you saw my post above but I was also talking about the gorgeous old houses in Japan on the bases!! I remember one of my friends lived in a small separate house that was the maids quarters. We were in high school and thought it was the coolest thing. I remember they all had koi ponds too. |
Anonymous
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My grandparents house is pre 1980s and still standing. So are most of the houses on their island.
The last time I visited there, that island still had homes from post WWII around. |
Anonymous
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Eh, this could be partly historical anomaly
1950 japan in ruins after losing WWII. Two cities bombed. They as a culture want to move beyond empirical past so start fresh 1980 boom then historical bust they have been in depression for two decades and RE still losing value. So less move up chance. Also I think they like things clean and new which u never get in old house no matter how renovate. |
Anonymous
| This sounds like most parts of Texas! |
Anonymous
| Do they take into account that Japan has suffered deflation for 20 years and nominal (not just real) house prices went down continuously for those two decades? |
Anonymous
| And don't forget that Godzilla will tear down entire neighborhoods every few decades too. |