Is a house in Japan less or more than most average homes in the U.S.A?
 

How much would an average home be in Japan? Just wondering.

How much is an average home in the US? I assume that an average house in New York city is going to cost more than one in the middle of nowhere.

Just like the US, the average cost in Japan is all over the board depending on where you want to live.

Is there some specific area you are interested in?

I don't know the US market but on the whole house prices in Japan are far less than house prices in Australia. Or I should probably say land prices are far cheaper. To build a house from scratch building costs in Japan are a little higher but the Japanese don't build anywhere near as large houses as on average in Aus and frankly generally nowhere near the same quality either.

If I had to be specific, it would be Chubu. And A house here, at the most,
is about $135,000.

I think we should take size into consideration too...

City vs. suburbs vs. countryside?

And the second big question - would you want to live in a brand new house? Or be happy with a used house?

If you want a new house in a convenient place in Nagoya - think around $400,000 and up.
If you are happy living in out in the countryside in a house over 30 years old - you can find places for less than $30,000.

Without far more detail as to where you actually want to live here... I can`t give you any accurate idea of the prices.

Exactly. Usually, Japanese houses are not big enough to park a decent truck :D
Also, they are build ridiculously close to one another. I would never buy a house in a city in Japan.
Common land parcel for building a house is 100 sq. metres. No thanks.

I didn't know that the prise I put down was a brand know house, and no i wouldn't want a brand new house, I just looked up on google how much house (here) might be, and thats what I got. $135,000

The dollar is really sucking it against the yen right now so that's going to hike the price up as well. Why a house though?? I can understand for a family, even though a lot of Japanese families do live in apartments. You can usually get a nice apartment, good size (BY JAPANESE STANDARDS), mostly furnished, near a station and a short train ride away from a city center (except perhaps if it's Tokyo Tokyo) for around $1100-1200 a month utilities included.

If you don't mind furnishing it yourself, a bit cozy, living around 30 minutes away from a city center, and don't include utilities you can get it down to around $500/mo.

Sorry don't know much about houses per se but figured you should have all cards laid out

You said Chubu - why that area unless there is a specific place you want to live near?
As for used vs new - you`ll find that is a BIG DEAL in Japan. Most people do buy new here or build their own house. As a result, houses are usually only built to really last one generation (even if the house isn`t sold, the next generation usually tears it down and rebuilds). An older house also means less earthquake resistance. As a result, you can find old houses for sale at incredibly low prices... No one wants them, and generally consider them a nuisance - something they have to pay to tear down before they can start on their own house.

Unless you are in Japan for the long haul, I don`t really see the point in buying a place. People don`t buy and sell regularly here, so if you buy a place you are not going to have an easy time selling it. People usually don`t move around once they have bought a home.

I will also second the sentiment that it is not really necessary to buy a house... And wouldn`t buy a house in a city myself. Houses tend to have very small lots with little more than a parking space for a "yard", etc.

We ended up buying a very nice condo with a huge (by Japanese standards) yard, very close to downtown Nagoya, for considerably less than a similar house would have been.