Other than Japan, I don’t think populations are actually shrinking yet, at least not in at significant rates. Global population is still growing and people migrate into industrialized countries. On top of that you have migration inside those countries with people moving into big cities. So smaller cities are shrinking but bigger cities are growing, often at rates outpacing construction of new housing - thus causing huge price increases. Even in Japan, which lost about 1M people AFAIR (they don’t like immigrants) the prices are growing.
Isn’t Japan only seeing prices go up in cities, while rural areas are becoming very cheap?
UK here, seems like we are largely avoiding that so far. Tbh I would go for minimum wage in a rural area immediately if it had really cheap housing. But generally here it seems like the rural areas are quite expensive, large and lots of land. Towns are often the cheapest.
Post-industrial towns are probably the cheapest overall, along with some coastal ones.
Isn’t Japan only seeing prices go up in cities, while rural areas are becoming very cheap?
Yes but cities is were everyone is moving while rural areas emptying out. It doesn’t really help to have cheap housing where no one wants/can live. Same thing is happening in Spain. Lots of villages are loosing residents but Madrid or Barcelona are growing at rates far outpacing the construction of new housing.
Other than Japan, I don’t think populations are actually shrinking yet, at least not in at significant rates. Global population is still growing and people migrate into industrialized countries. On top of that you have migration inside those countries with people moving into big cities. So smaller cities are shrinking but bigger cities are growing, often at rates outpacing construction of new housing - thus causing huge price increases. Even in Japan, which lost about 1M people AFAIR (they don’t like immigrants) the prices are growing.
Isn’t Japan only seeing prices go up in cities, while rural areas are becoming very cheap?
UK here, seems like we are largely avoiding that so far. Tbh I would go for minimum wage in a rural area immediately if it had really cheap housing. But generally here it seems like the rural areas are quite expensive, large and lots of land. Towns are often the cheapest.
Post-industrial towns are probably the cheapest overall, along with some coastal ones.
Yes but cities is were everyone is moving while rural areas emptying out. It doesn’t really help to have cheap housing where no one wants/can live. Same thing is happening in Spain. Lots of villages are loosing residents but Madrid or Barcelona are growing at rates far outpacing the construction of new housing.
Does make me wonder why the UK isn’t seeing the same sort of thing. London is really expensive but the rest largely isn’t getting much cheaper.