Comment Re:Home ownership is an anomaly (Score 1) 419
While price often is seen as something that is related to the cost of manufacturing something (after all, selling below manufacturing cost is a certain way to go out of business in the long run), the reality is that it's a compromise between what the seller wants and the buyer is willing to spend.
If I'm correct, the population in Japan is shrinking. Factor in newly built homes and there's likely a surplus on the market; a situation where older houses lose value (they're older after all).
In a "hot" housing market like the US where the population growth keeps up with the housing market (or even outpaces it) buyers are willing to "settle for anything" and will have interest in older homes as well; it's not like they have a lot to choose from in the first place.
Is a house a wise investment? Probably not when looked at purely from a monetary perspective. Who would buy stock they can't sell when the price is high (because you'd be homeless) or are forced to sell when they'd rather hang on (when you want to move somewhere else).
At the same time, you have to live somewhere and there's a certain attractiveness in building up equity instead of handing money over to a landlord, knowing that you don't have pay a (yearly increasing) rent by the time you live on a fixed income.
What is irrational is the blind believe that one needs to buy a house "because you're building equity." I rented for many years as the interest alone was more than what I was paying for rent. I'd built equity faster by renting and putting money in a savings account (or better, invest it) than by owning a house.
If I'm correct, the population in Japan is shrinking. Factor in newly built homes and there's likely a surplus on the market; a situation where older houses lose value (they're older after all).
In a "hot" housing market like the US where the population growth keeps up with the housing market (or even outpaces it) buyers are willing to "settle for anything" and will have interest in older homes as well; it's not like they have a lot to choose from in the first place.
Is a house a wise investment? Probably not when looked at purely from a monetary perspective. Who would buy stock they can't sell when the price is high (because you'd be homeless) or are forced to sell when they'd rather hang on (when you want to move somewhere else).
At the same time, you have to live somewhere and there's a certain attractiveness in building up equity instead of handing money over to a landlord, knowing that you don't have pay a (yearly increasing) rent by the time you live on a fixed income.
What is irrational is the blind believe that one needs to buy a house "because you're building equity." I rented for many years as the interest alone was more than what I was paying for rent. I'd built equity faster by renting and putting money in a savings account (or better, invest it) than by owning a house.
