Do you think Tokyo is more expensive than Hong Kong? I actually do not know. So, I decided to find out and share with everyone. Just for our general knowledge since property is something which is very important nowadays whether it’s for own stay or for investment. I searched: http://www.realestate.co.jp which has thousands of listings. Around 700 sf, apartment, within Tokyo prefecture. Below are the results for the lowest priced ones. Typically, they are very old apartments. Some built in 1979! I think we can rely on them as it’s made in Japan. 🙂
The cheapest that we can ever find is Yen39,800,000 or also equivalent to RM1.244 million. Exchange rate is RM1 to Yen 32. This is over 8 times more expensive than a typical RM150,000 700sf, older apartments here in Penang. Seems not too bad yeah? How much do an average Japanese earns? A fresh network engineer earns about Yen533,000 per month or RM18,299. I think a Penang network engineer earns about RM2,600. This is about 7 times lower than his Japanese counterpart.
When we look at it this way, hey it seems that in terms of salary to apartment, there’s no big difference! There’s only one tiny little difference, I cannot find any other listings at this price. However, if I were to search for apartments in Penang for RM150,000 and below, I could find a lot of choices. 🙂
There’s little to debate. If we are to compare just in terms of prices and availability objectively, I still think properties in Penang is better than Tokyo. In other words, if both the network engineers chose to buy an apartment, the Penang one would have more choices, not to mention cheaper. His counterpart in Japan may really need to buy a very old apartment, perhaps built in 1979 if he is to say, ‘hey with my salary, I can also afford the same apartment as my Penang friend’.
written on 14th dec 2013.
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