In your country, is it the norm to rent an apartment after getting married to start your new life? Or do you purchase a land property? Despite the average age for marriage is on the rise every year, we would like to bring you stories of the newlyweds regarding their new residential area! We went around asking Japanese married couples, so let’s have a look at their lives.
For newlyweds, rental apartment is the norm
“Due to not having enough savings, we couldn’t afford a new building” said a newlywed Mrs. A (32 years old, women). For their newlywed life, they decided to rent a mansion/apartment 5 minutes away from a station in Shibuya area due to that area being the center point between their workplace. “Both of us have to do a lot of Over-Time, that’s why the main requirement is that it’s near a station. For our apartment, we would like to have 2 rooms for our bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 dining room with a kitchen attached to it, and the monthly rent to be about 160,000 yen.” is what Mrs. A requested. Apparently, the rent will be split by half between the both of them! When both the husband and the wife is working, each party paying half of the rent is what most married couples do.
A land property comes after enough money is saved!
5 years after getting married, Mrs. B (35 years old, women) is considering on getting a land property. “Every month, the both of us have been saving money so that we can get a land property. The moment we saved enough for the down payment of a land property, we started looking around for our ideal house” is what Mrs. B said. The down payment is just a part of the total payment of the land property. The remaining part of the total payment will be paid by getting a loan from the bank, and the married couple will gradually pay off their loan by paying a fixed sum every month. This is one of the most commonly used method to buy a land property.
Whether a land property or an apartment all depends on the area.
The property in Tokyo 23-ku (区, district) and the area around terminal stations are very expensive, hence instead of a land property, most married couples get an apartment.
It may differ according to the distance from the station or the house’s builder, but most properties with 2 guestrooms, 1 living room, along with a dining room and a kitchen usually cost around 40 million to 60 million yen. On the other hand, a small area known as “bedroom town” which is an hour away by train from the Tokyo 23-ku has a cheaper land price, resulting in more married couples preferring to buy land properties over there.
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