Housing Markets and Household Behavior in Japan

This book addresses essential questions about housing by building theoretical models based on various real world problems in Japan and testing these models using econometric methods. Almost all related empirical analyses use Japanese household longitudinal data. Accordingly, the author analyzes whole aspects of the data, based on an understanding of the actual situation, theory, and empirical analysis, to directly derive a vision of a future housing policy.

Why are houses expensive and difficult to obtain in Japan? Why do people have to live in small houses? Why do people not relocate frequently? Why is the earthquake insurance subscription rate so low, particularly in an earthquake-prone country such as Japan, even after such a catastrophic event as the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011? How do existing housing finance and tax policies or laws relate to these real world problems? To answer these questions, the book clarifies the unique criteria that characterize housing problems in Japan and presents a vision of future housing policy.

The short answer is that existing housing finance policy that adopts criteria based on the floor space of houses creates incentives for people to live in even smaller houses. Furthermore, the Japan Rental Act, which affects people renting homes, reduces residential mobility. The incidence of underinsurance against earthquake risk is a result of earthquake insurance market imperfections such as crude and rough geographical risk ratings.

The book elaborates on these factors in four parts and will be of interest to all readers who are concerned with the housing market and household behavior in Japan.

Clarifies a variety of problems stemming from the uniqueness of Japanese housing systems and related regulations Shows the post-earthquake changes in earthquake preparedness and risk mitigation activities of households after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 Provides the first rigorous econometric analysis of the Japanese housing sector in the field of applied urban economics that takes full advantage of longitudinal household data

Auteur

Miki Seko is professor emeritus of Keio University and professor of economics at Musashino University, Tokyo, Japan. Her research on topics relating to housing has appeared in the Regional Science and Urban Economics, the Journal of Housing Economics, the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, the Journal of Property Research, and the Journal of Economic Issues, *amongst others. Her research interests are in housing demand, housing price dynamics, housing policy, earthquake risk, and disaster prevention policies. Currently, she serves on the editorial boards of two real estate and urban economics journals. She was president of the Asian Real Estate Society and has co-authored *A Companion to Urban Economics (Blackwell Publishing, 2006). She received the 57th Nikkei Economics Book Prize in 2014.

Contenu

Chapter 1 Introduction: Purpose and Organization of This Book.- Part I Housing Markets and the Macro Economy.- Chapter 2 House-Price Dynamics and Effects on the Macro Economy.- Chapter 3 Housing Market Imperfections and Distortions Resulting from Criteria Based on House Floor Space.- Chapter 4 Housing and Housing Finance Markets.- Part II Housing Tenure and Changes in Economic Welfare.- Chapter 5 Effects of Systems and Regulations on Residential Mobility.- Chapter 6 Housing Tenure Choice After the Revision of the Rental Act.- Chapter 7 The Term Premium of Cancellable Lease Rates.- Part III Earthquake Risk and the Residential Market.- Chapter 8 Earthquake Risk and a Quality of Life Index.- Chapter 9 Valuation of Earthquake Risk in Housing Markets.- Chapter 10 Consumer Valuation of Earthquake Risk before and after Massive Earthquakes.- Chapter 11 Earthquake Insurance Subscription Rates and Regional Cross-Subsidies.- Part IV Households' Behavioral Responses after the Great East Japan Earthquake.- Chapter 12 Perceived Preparedness and Attitude of Japanese Households toward Risk Mitigation Activities following the Great East Japan Earthquake: Earthquake Insurance Purchase and Seismic Retrofitting.- Chapter 13 Households' Risk Mitigation Activities and Risk Perception Bias: Earthquake Insurance Purchase and Seismic Retrofitting.- Part V Policy Implications of This Book.- Chapter 14 Conclusion: Policy Implications and Future Research.- Index.