Tag - housing

 
 

HOUSING

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Feb 3, 2014
The housing conundrum: To own or not to own
The population is not increasing and there's a shrinking pool of potential buyers for the home you bought 20 years ago, or 10 years ago, or even yesterday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 9, 2013
Brits feel squeeze on income
Although the British economy seem at least to be showing signs of recovery, it remains difficult for young people to get on the property ladder despite low interest rates.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 2, 2013
Water, water, it's not everywhere
There are aspects of everyday life that renters take for granted, such as access to utilities. Of course, renters pay for their own electricity and gas, and, depending on where they live, they may be billed for water and sewerage. Homeowners pay for these services, too, but there are extra financial...
Japan Times
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Nov 17, 2013
Fukushima evacuees' housing units crumbling
The temporary housing units sheltering those displaced by the March 11 quake, tsunami and nuclear disasters are falling apart just as winter sets in.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Nov 4, 2013
Warming up for the winter chill
In 2000 we moved into an apartment in Tokyo run by the semi-public housing corporation UR. It was new and had a natural-gas heating system. Unlike other gas systems we'd used in the past, however, this one heated water that was then circulated to outlets in different rooms in the apartment. Direct gas...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 3, 2013
Housing market exemptions to offset tax hike impact
The housing market will weather a consumption levy increase because of a tax break on home purchases, according to Mizuho Securities Co. and Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Sep 30, 2013
The build-up to get that housing loan
Several years ago, we went to a bank in Tokyo that was advertising housing loans with easy terms. Though we weren't shopping for a loan at the time we wanted to see what was needed in order to apply for one. The bank's approval criteria seemed simple enough: If you made at least ¥3 million a year, you...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 17, 2013
After decades of growth, South Korea is now a land full of apartments
South Korea is a nation covered by apartments, so much so that from above, it resembles a coast-to-coast game of dominoes. Apartment buildings snake around mountains and form jarring clusters in the countryside. In cities, they align in grids that stretch for several kilometers.
EDITORIALS
Sep 13, 2013
Housing help for evacuees
The central and local governments must be ready to help both evacuees who want to return home and those who want to settle in new places.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2013
Tokyo bests New York, Paris for property rents
Tokyo is the best city for residential-property returns, broker Savills PLC said, because Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies are stimulating the economy and increasing investor confidence.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2013
The biggest Olympic beneficiaries? Tokyo Bay developers
Tokyo Bay area property prices stand to benefit the most in the lead-up to the 2020 Olympic Games, adding to the recovery in the capital's real estate values after 20 years of declines
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Sep 2, 2013
Housing loans: Nothing is 100 percent easy
The government has yet to confirm the timing of the approved consumption tax increase from 5 to 8 percent. It's slated to take place next April but there is still fear that the economy is too frail to withstand the effect the added tax might have on actual consumption. Consequently, the government is...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Aug 5, 2013
The aging issue of Chiba New Town
The Chiba New Town development project was begun in the late 1960s by the Chiba prefectural government, and a decade later, joined by the Land Development Corporation, the government housing organ that would morph into the Urban Renaissance (UR) Agency in 2004. It is located in the northern part of the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jul 2, 2013
Moved by the benefits of mobile-home housing
The model house sat on an empty patch of brown land along a commercial stretch of road in southern Ibaraki Prefecture. Few people would have identified it as a model house. It had a forlorn, out-of-place look to it. Technically, it was a mobile home — "trailer house," in Japanese parlance — propped...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jun 4, 2013
Sometimes it pays to look on the bright side
The flyers were provocative: New houses priced at more than ¥35 million, but the builder promised that the mortgage would amount to ¥0 a month. A free house is obviously too good to be true, but we decided to check out the merchandise to see what the story was.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
May 14, 2013
On uneven ground: landfill property pitfalls
After the real estate agent unlocked the front door, the musty smell told us that the house had not been aired for some time. He laid out slippers for us and proceeded to raise the shutters and open the windows. Then, upon entering the kitchen he exclaimed, "Katamuite iru" ("It's uneven").
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 23, 2013
Student seeking Kyoto flat told: No foreigners allowed
After spending 2u00bd years living the quiet life in Shiga Prefecture, Ryukoku University student Victor Rosenhoj was looking forward to moving to Kyoto, where things promised to be more lively and international.

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