Cat Foreheads & Rabbit Hutches

Nervous on the block

Posted on August 22, 2009 by catforehead

A survey by the Real Estate Auction Distribution Association has found that the number of homes deisgnated for the auction block by courts throughout Japan has almost doubled in the past year. Housing loan defaults are on the increase, and since it takes up to year from the time a bank begins foreclosure to the time the court allows for bidding on a property, the number of homes on auction will likely continue to increase, perhaps hitting its peak next spring, when loan defaults caused by cancelled or drastically reduced bonuses this past summer will come home to roost, so to speak. Read More

Blacklist blues: update

Posted on August 20, 2009 by catforehead

The blacklist for rental scofflaws that was planned by a number of rental guarantee companies and reported below has apparently been scrapped–for the time being. According to a front page article in today’s Asahi Shimbun, the group of 15 that came up with the blacklist have decided not to go through with it after “thinking more seriously about it.” Also, other guarantee companies who aren’t in the group apparently complained and the land ministry expressed its “concern.” But the main problem seems internal–some of the companies actually want the blacklist to be more draconian while others are caving to outside pressure to just chuck the whole thing. Anyway, the group will continue its discussion of the matter in the fall. In a way, that makes sense. The rental market isn’t very good right now, and such tactics, which are meant to appeal to landlords, seem self-defeating in what is essentially a buyers market.

Living on the edge

Posted on August 16, 2009 by catforehead

condo An article in Shukan Gendai states that according to the real estate industry about one-fifth of all condominiums throughout Japan “probably” violate current local building codes. The vast majority of these violations are time specific, meaning that they didn’t violate codes when they were built. Laws were changed after they were constructed, and while there is no requirement that the condos have to be rebuilt to adhere to the new codes, the situation is still bothersome for those who live in them. Basically, it makes it even more difficult for the current owners to ever sell them. Read More

Blacklist blues

Posted on August 15, 2009 by catforehead

According to a front page story in today’s Asahi Shimbun, a group of 15 nationwide “yachin hosho kaisha” (rental guarantee companies) have gotten together and at the end of the month will start compiling a blacklist of rent scofflaws. Read More

Where the spike is

Posted on August 13, 2009 by catforehead

The one area of housing that has seen some improvement over the last year or so is apartment for senior citizens. As Japan’s population’s median age continues to increase, there is greater demand for nursing homes. It’s a demand that isn’t being met by the public sector. Private sector nursing homes are very expensive and thus only the well-to-do can afford them. However, housing developers have stepped in and built affordable housing specially designed for older residents.

In fact, the number of apartment units for seniors has actually doubled from a year ago. A registry for this kind of specialized housing started in 2005. By Mar. 2007 the number of units was about 10,000, and increased to 18,800 by Mar. 2008. It now stands at about 36,000 units. According to a Kyodo report, a private research firm says it will likely increase to 73,000 units by Mar. 2014.

Though designed for seniors, there are no regulations restricting their use to seniors. Rent tends to range from ¥100,000 to ¥200,000 a month, which is much lower than monthly charges at private nursing homes.

The way it is

Posted on August 4, 2009 by catforehead

The Asahi Shimbun just published statistics from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications regarding Japanese housing. The ministry surveys the housing situation every five years and found that as of October last year there was a total of 57.59 million residences in Japan, 7.56 million–or 13.1 percent–of which were vacant. Read More

We’re here for you (if you’re a landlord)

Posted on August 2, 2009 by catforehead

Here’s a link to a Japan Times article about a new DVD for foreigners that helps them navigate the rental housing world of Japan. As the piece points out, the DVD is being distributed by the Japan Property Management Association, which means that they are more concerned with what happens after the contract is signed–getting along with neighbors, knowing the customs, etc. These are all important matters, but what’s significant about the release is its timing. With the rental housing market deep in the doldrums more and more realtors and landlords are biting the bullet and soliciting foreigners whom they avoided in the past. Building management companies understand this and are mainly doing this for their customers, not for tenants. As long as foreign tenants know their obligations, there will be less trouble for realtors and landlords. Will somebody in the industry ever produce a DVD for foreigners that informs them of their rights as tenants? That would seem to be against their interests, wouldn’t it?

The First Straw

Posted on July 30, 2009 by catforehead

The Kyoto District Court ruling on July 23 was a bombshell, and if it sets some sort of precedent could change the situation for Japanese renters forever. After the jump, the Kyodo report from Japan Times Read More

Damage done

Posted on July 22, 2009 by catforehead

The Japan Housing Finance Association recently revised its guidelines for disaster loans. Previously, the government would have to assess whether or not a particular disaster was big enough to warrant lending money to people whose homes were lost or damaged. But as of June 15, any natural disaster qualifies for a loan. And it’s just in time. The torrential downpour that hit Yamaguchi Prefecture yesterday destroyed a number of homes and damaged countless others. Read More

Taking on heirs

Posted on July 18, 2009 by catforehead

On July 17 the Finance Ministry announced that in fiscal 2008 the amount of money the government received for sales of property it owned and which wasn’t in use was ¥66.5 billion, a 60 percent drop from the previous fiscal year. This is sort of serious since in 2005 the government, in order to reduce its debt, set a goal of raising ¥2.1 trillion over the next ten years from sales of government land, whether in use (think: those postal insurance hotels) or not in use. In 2006 and 2007, the government made about ¥220 billion per year in land sales and hoped to get at least ¥100 billion in 2008, but the recession and its attendant effect on land prices put a crimp in that plan. Of incidental interest to this blog is the fact that of the land owned by the government, 4,105 plots were obtained through payment in lieu of inheritance taxes, and that at the end of 2008 the combined book value of this property was ¥403.8 billion. Read More