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Comment by ekianjo | Hacker News Reader

Lol this has to be the worst headline ever. Tokyo is nowhere affordable unless you have a SV salary while living in Japan. Median Japanese salaries are not high and that is precisely why people commute from very far away to go to work in Tokyo.

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It also fails to mention the actual reason why the houses have been “affordable” for Japanese people. The banks give out 30 year mortgages on very low rates which you can deduct from your income tax [1], without requiring a big deposit.

[１] https://japanpropertycentral.com/real-estate-faq/home-loan-t...

Generous loans increase buying power and, in the absence of elastic supply, would result in rising prices that keep housing expensive. The wonder is that you can buy a new construction 3-story 3 bed/2 bath house 5 minutes from Sugamo station for $550k, despite the mortgages being so generous. (Source: the flyer that a real estate agent handed to me in the street last night).

Note that most rates for loans are variable in Japan. Over 30 years thats a fairly big risk nowadays.

6m/year is more than median income but is nowhere near SV salary and I know tons of people living in central Tokyo on that salary.

They live in 10 square meters?

https://www.leopalace21.com/search/r/property/?pref=13&area=...

Most places <$1k USD/month seem to be 20-25 sq meters

You can easily get 20-25m² for 60-70k about 20 min from Shibuya. Not sure where you live that you think it's super expensive.

Japanese are fine without SV salary because they don't want big house like SV

its not that they dont want, they were never given the choice. I can guarantee that very rich Japanese people enjoy big houses.

It's true that people live smaller house than they want, but the size shouldn't be too big. Metropolis with great public transport or good city with big house and car, pick one. Riches can have big house and a car in the metropolis but it's impossible everyone to have. For who prefer big house, they can live in local cities if they can remote work

> For who prefer big house, they can live in local cities if they can remote work

If you want to have a family you basically can't live in a small cramped apartment in the city. That's why families with kids move out and people commute like crazy.

SV salary?

Silicon Valley

This comment is real and should not be down voted.

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