Patrick McKenzie

If by affordable and growth of housing you mean the tiny coffin sized apartments and houses that won’t work here because people won’t put up with that by and large. Some will and those some I’ll admonish the ones that don’t but they will be outliers non the less.

The average Tokyo apartment is ~780 square feet, which is a tiny coffin slightly bigger than the average for SF, NYC, Chicago, Washington DC, Tuscon, and LA.

This tweet may unintentionally misrepresent the amount of net new construction. Look into the sociology of housing in Japan and reasons (cultural and pragmatic) for constant rebuilding if you haven't.

Would you like to estimate the number of net new housing units constructed in Tokyo in the last 10 years and/or number of degrees I have which are relevant to this question?

Curious if Japan has stricter controls on foreign real estate purchasers. Tons of urban real estate in the states and UK is parking foreign wealth. Los Angeles doesn’t have a dearth of supply and yet the rates stay high, because investment condos turn more profit than apt rents.

Happily for me, Japan lets foreigners purchase real estate, in much the same fashion as it lets them purchase e.g. cars. There would probably be a hard political question on whether to let foreigners buy cars if Japan stopped building cars. So it doesn't. Problem solved.

My uneducated guess is this is ultimately a cultural difference - Americans are brainwashed into believing that housing is an “investment,” and perceived property values are a huge motivator in local politics.

Don't forget that property taxes pay for things otherwise paid for by nation-level taxes in functioning countries, putting even more focus and stress on desiring high value homes and areas.

Homes depreciate in Japan. The market is completely flipped. You can’t compare them at all. New homes are worth more so it encourages building and re-building.