'Second-hand' house buying is a new trend in Tokyo

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By CGTN’s Mayu Yoshida

Pre-owned houses were long undervalued in Japan and considered to have no resale value by home buyers. But in Tokyo, where land and property prices are rising, younger generations are making wise investment to buy old houses and decorating them into cool, fashionable homes.

Entrepreneur Tetsuro Kouda has a dream house in one of Tokyo's most expensive neighborhoods. The penthouse has a 114-square meter floor space and a 65-square meter balcony with a great city view, but it only cost Kouda 100-million yen – half the price of similar new condos in the neighborhood.

That’s because it’s a remodeled 36-year-old apartment.

"Second-hand houses offer a variety of choices in terms of area, size and equipped-furniture for the same price as new houses", said Kouda, Founder of smartphone app firm.

The crowded Shibuya Crossing in central Tokyo, Japan. Shibuya is almost occupied by expensive commercial properties that it’s hard to even find an apartment there. /VCG Photo

Japanese have been obsessed with all things new and hate the idea of living in a used house. Although, exiting houses account for over 80% of all residential transactions in the US and UK, yet, in Japan it's only 15%.

Actually, the new houses in Japan lose value quickly, so developers have had little incentive to build houses that would keep high quality for a longer time. It just adds up to the long list of second-hand houses waiting to be rented out or sold.

Night view of closely built apartments in Tokyo. /VCG Photo

As Japan's population shrinks, abandoned ghost houses are increasing, leaving pre-owned houses untapped in the property market. That has provided business opportunities for start-ups.

"Recently, younger Japanese – especially working generations in 30s – prefer living a customized lifestyle. Rather than buying a complete new house, they'd live in a personalized house. We thought this is market that will grow and decided to take lead in this market while it's still small and untapped" ,said Hiroki Murakami, CEO of TSUKURUBA INC.

TSUKURUBA targets young people in Tokyo opting to buy fashionable houses by listing online refurnished apartments.

The Japanese government is encouraging the new trend. It approved a bill last year to double the market for used homes to 8 trillion yen by 2025. But with millions of homes still sitting empty, homeowners are looking forward to fill in old houses quickly before it's too late to renovate.

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