How to choose a second-hand apartment

It's been about a year since I started looking for a second-hand apartment for apartment renovation. When I was about to give up a little because I couldn't find a property that met the desired conditions, I found a 28-year-old apartment for sale in one of the best locations in the city that was perfect for the desired conditions. It's a 3LDK, which is not that large at about 70m2, but it's less expensive, has good access to the city center, and the fact that I found a rare property facing south on the upper floor is that it was worth waiting without giving up on the way.

The point that I was particularly particular about in choosing a property this time is that it is an apartment with asset value even in old construction. An apartment with asset value means a property that can be sold at a reasonable price or more even after purchase.

The apartment you bought in a new building is so expensive that it is mocked as a new construction market. Except for very popular properties, it will not exceed the purchase price, and the value of millions to tens of millions of yen will be lost immediately after purchase. In the case of second-hand apartments, the price will not drop that much because it has already dropped, but it will not be so simple when it comes to actually selling it. If there is a similar property in a neighboring apartment, it will not be sold unless it is cheaper than that, so the price will be lower than the market price, and as a result, the price of those properties will decrease year by year. It can be said that such apartments have low assets.

Specifically, what kind of property has low assets is a property with the same floor plan, the same specifications, and a large supply. It is a so-called apartment built for the public, and apartments in the suburbs far from the city center can keep the price down because you can get land cheaply, but when it comes to selling, it is often difficult to find a buyer. Su.

There are two main types of apartments, one for the masses and the other for the wealthy. Apartments for the masses are originally in large supply and have the same floor plan and specifications, so it is reasonable and good when buying, but when selling, you can find many similar apartments.

As for apartments for the wealthy, the original absolute number is small, and even if it is second-hand, the price is reasonable, so the number of buyers is limited. Even so, the price of apartments for the wealthy is naturally lower than when they were newly built, and there are few people who want to buy them, so it can be said that there is a high possibility that they will be able to buy properties with high assets at a good price.

Therefore, I would like to look back on the history of condominiums in Japan to see what apartments with high assets are.

The first apartment for sale in Japan is the "Miyamasuzaka Building" built in Tokyo in 1953. Tokyo is sold as an 11-story store and residential complex apartment. At that time, there was no such thing as a mortgage, so in an era with an average annual income of about 200,000 yen, apartments with a sale price of 1 million yen were mainly aimed at the wealthy.

In 1964, with the Tokyo Olympics as a result, private companies began supplying high-end condominiums for sale for the wealthy. Speaking of representative apartments these days, "Co-op Olympia" is still located in front of Harajuku Station. In 1964, the price at the time of sale was sold at up to 100 million yen, and it is also famous as the first billion yen in Japan.

In the late 1960s, bank mortgages began to be applied to condominiums so that ordinary people could buy them, and Shuwa Gaien-mae Residence was built in 1967 as the first apartment in Japan to be applied to the mortgage. Construction. From this time on, the sale price of condominiums began to decline, and condominiums began to become popular. After that, when the housing finance public treasury's loan system began, it began to be supplied as a "condominium for sale with a public treasury loan", and a boom in condominiums for sale occurred nationwide.

In the late 1980s, due to the influence of the bubble economy, ultra-luxury properties exceeding 1 billion yen were supplied in the city center. Apartments are also pursuing individuality and high quality, and tiled exterior walls, luxurious common facilities, auto locks, and a large lobby are also one of the characteristics of apartments in this era. Stocks of various qualities are mixed, from those that use a lot of high-grade building materials due to the bubble period to those that prioritize construction speed in order to sell from the public side. Around this time, "Hiroo Garden Hills" was built in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, which can be said to be a representative of Japanese vintage apartments.

In the early 1990s, the price of condominiums began to fall due to the economic downturn caused by the collapse of the bubble. Due to the collapse of the bubble, the construction of the apartment itself has plummeted, and properties that have reduced the exclusive area to lower the selling price will appear. In 1995, due to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, interest in structure and basic performance increased, and new technologies such as vibration damping structures and seismic isolation structures were developed.

It was the time when the apartment boom came back in the late 1990s, and the quality was greatly improved. The standard floor (roof) slab is about 15cm to 18cm thicker, and the floor finish is from "double floor" to "double floor", and the sound insulation performance is also improved. In order to keep the price down, the "out-frame construction method" will be adopted to increase the effective area of the room without expanding the exclusive area. In addition, the spatial quality will also be improved, such as improving daylighting and increasing the sense of openness with "reverse beam high sash". Facilities that are now common today, such as auto locks and home delivery boxes, have also become mainstream. High-quality construction created by the low construction cost of the time, which was finally recovering from the collapse of the bubble. There are many specifications that are difficult to adopt in current new buildings, such as exterior wall tiles, double floors and double ceilings, and spacious common spaces.

In the 2000s, the "Act on the Promotion of Housing Quality Assurance, etc.", the so-called "Quality Assurance Act", began in 2000, and it entered the era when third parties inspected and evaluated properties through the housing performance labeling system. This is an era in which trouble prevention for defective housing has been strengthened. In 2003, the revision of the Building Standards Act made it mandatory to install ventilation equipment, and 24-hour ventilation and bathroom dryers were also widespread. "All flooring" without Japanese-style rooms is common. Due to the historic appreciation of the yen, building materials were cheap, and a very high-quality apartment was built. In addition to the fact that the construction cost was very low, it was a time when apartment land could be obtained in a good place. It can be said that it was the time when a high-quality apartment was built with a good location.

The Lehman shock that occurred in 2008 led to a global recession. After the Lehman shock, the number of newly built apartment supply units has increased by about half of the mass supply era, and the supply stance of the condominium industry has changed "from quantity to quality". Against the background of high construction costs, labor shortages, and difficulties in obtaining land, we will shift to high-priced and high-quality properties (tower apartments and brand properties) mainly in the city center and good location, and the era of mass supply will end.

Currently, there are many cases where newly built apartments reduce the selling price by cutting costs, such as simplifying ancillary equipment in line with soaring land prices, lowering the grade of components, and simplifying the floor plan. Since the construction cost is unlikely to decrease in the future and the supply of land is limited, it is expected that the price of new construction will continue to remain high.

If you trace the history of the apartment in this way, each has its own characteristics, such as the grade, location, and price of the building depending on the era. Although the old interior can be replaced by renovation, the parts that cannot be replaced, such as location, building quality, sunshine, and view, are the most important points when choosing an apartment, regardless of whether they are new or old, and these elements are manshi It can be said that it affects the value of the assets.

.

▶︎We help you with the renovation of the apartment from the property search. Please feel free to consult us first.

IN THE LIGHT Interior Architecture

1-15-16 Musashigaoka, Kita-ku, Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture, 861-8001

Info@inthelightinteriors.com