Quote:
Originally Posted by The Yen Man
I was listening to a podcast on this subject about Japan, and the reason why it's so popular to rent there rather than own. Apparently in Japan, a lot of houses are only built to last 10 to 15 years before they heed to be rebuilt. I guess it makes sense given the frequencies of tsunamis and earthquakes there.
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10-15 years sounds too short. Everywhere I've read over the years generally indicates 25-30 year lifespans for houses in Japan. Still quite short though.
The Japanese generally like new things though. That's also one of the reasons (besides the Sha-Ken) why their old cars are worthless domestically and get exported to North America and Western Europe for cheap.
I like the thought of making a house a consumable the way that Japan does. Does anyone truly want to live in a 40-100 year old house that may or may not up to modern building code...? Think of all the houses in Calgary that still have aluminum wiring, poly b, weird basement heights, inefficient floor layouts, etc.
It'd be great to renew the housing stock in the inner city without having to drop $$$$ on an infill so that people can live where they actually want to live within the city instead of being forced into the far flung burbs because we've commoditized housing.