<story><title>Tokyo proves that housing shortages are a political choice</title><url>https://www.citymetric.com/fabric/tokyo-proves-housing-shortages-are-political-choice-4623</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>hackermailman</author><text>Japanese also don&amp;#x27;t consider housing to be equity or investment, it depreciates in value every year. A house is just a house not something to speculate on or store money in. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;us-japan-economy-land&amp;#x2F;japan-average-land-prices-rise-for-1st-time-in-27-years-government-survey-idUSKCN1LY10J&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;us-japan-economy-land&amp;#x2F;japan-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>geebee</author><text>Has this always been the case? I remember hearing way back in the 80s various (and probably hyperbolic) stories about how the dollar value of the land in greater Tokyo was greater than the dollar value of the all the land in the entire United States, how if you dropped a $10,000 bill in Tokyo it would be worth less than the land it covered, that sort of thing.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s possible for land to be valuable and worth owning while buildings are not viewed as investments. I&amp;#x27;m not convinced that SF owners of single family properties would necessarily be financially harmed by a major relaxation of density restrictions. It&amp;#x27;s entirely possible that the value of living space per square foot could go down while the value of land per sq foot goes up.</text></comment>
<story><title>Tokyo proves that housing shortages are a political choice</title><url>https://www.citymetric.com/fabric/tokyo-proves-housing-shortages-are-political-choice-4623</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>hackermailman</author><text>Japanese also don&amp;#x27;t consider housing to be equity or investment, it depreciates in value every year. A house is just a house not something to speculate on or store money in. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;us-japan-economy-land&amp;#x2F;japan-average-land-prices-rise-for-1st-time-in-27-years-government-survey-idUSKCN1LY10J&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;us-japan-economy-land&amp;#x2F;japan-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Tuna-Fish</author><text>The way this is achieved is by making sure that there is never a housing shortage, by building enough to keep the prices low.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s never an investment because prices never appreciate, so no-one would even try to invest in it.</text></comment>