[anrakushi]

well MMM i'm not going to doubt that information but i think you should check the real estate site i linked to above, the yahoo! one, you will see many properties are much more affordable than what you state there. mind you i wasn't looking at tokyo, but osaka, kyoto, hyogo. also my prices are for houses, not apartments. so these are not central locations in the middle of the the prefectures major city but not far in my books from city. i was looking in hyogo and found some really nice places for about $140kAUD about 20-30mins from central Osaka City.

new 2008 properties are about 3000万 to 5000万 in some of the regions i was looking at. once you get to about 6 years old and older the price for many is 1000万 or less. I checked just Kansai areas though.

If you ask me, you would be crazy to buy a more expensive house in the 5000万 price range because i can't see japanese house values increasing unless they make a change to their immigration policy with their declining population and what economists are predicting to be an economy set to go nowhere but down, at least from what i have read.