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by Vt71fcAqt7 1075 days ago
>housing (separate from land)

Under this definition of housing US housing isn't speculative either. It's only the land that goes up in value. It's just that earthquakes and tsunamis aren't as frequent and powerful here and the zoning laws are more arcane here. (as well as some other reasons related to the speed of development of these countries). Japan is one of the least afordable places to live in the world. That is in large part the reason why the population is declining. But nobody is speculating on US bathrooms.
2 comments
aidenn0 1075 days ago
Also in the US, the house might be valuable because it might be illegal to build a new house of similar size on the land. My last house was 2.1x larger in square-footage than allowed under current zoning laws. If it was damaged due to natural disaster, you could rebuild with the same floor-plan, but if you willingly tore it down, you had to build a smaller house.
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artsytrashcan 1075 days ago
That's not necessarily true. People have borrowed against higher land values and built more expensive housing with higher-end finishes. That was the whole "flipping" craze; the contents of the house were literally worth more after renovation.

>But nobody is speculating on US bathrooms.

I've got two words for you, man: rainhead shower. (Or "in-floor heating" for the Northeast. ...I guess that's 3 words.)

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