House prices are tipped to rise further this year - spurring some to look for more affordable solutions. In Japan, millions of abandoned houses, known as ‘akiya’ are being sold cheaply or even given away for free - and some Australian expats have decided to buy up.
When Australian expat Jaya Thursfield faced the question of where to put down roots for his young family, he was torn between Australia, and his wife’s home country of Japan.
Akiya are unwanted homes, mostly in the Japanese countryside, that have been abandoned as a side effect of Japan’s severe population decline - and a trend toward urban living, with 90 percent of Japan’s 125 million residents choosing to live in cities. “Above all, the thing that I really wanted out of a house was a big backyard. Having grown up with one, I just wanted the same thing for my kids. I do feel like I've managed to get the Australian dream here in Japan – and that’s getting harder and harder in Australia now.”
“The more abandoned houses you see in a community, you just get this feeling of loneliness, of sadness. Mentally and visually, it hurts the community. We see that and we want to do something about it.”
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There are millions of abandoned homes in Japan. You can buy one for $50,000As homeownership becomes increasingly expensive in Australia, we travel to Japan, where millions of abandoned houses, known as ‘akiya’, are being sold cheaply or given away. Can foreign buyers help solve Japan’s empty house problem? Watch ‘Japan's Cheap Homes’ on SBS On Demand.
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