In Japan it used to be hard to find takers for homes where a death had occurred. But as property prices soar, more buyers are finding that discounted prices make up for a fear of restless spirits.

Ichikawa

In Japan, homes where deaths have occurred, known as 'jiko-bukken', have traditionally been difficult to sell due to cultural beliefs about lingering spirits. However, as property prices rise sharply, more buyers are willing to overlook these stigmas in exchange for significant discounts, sometimes around 20 percent off market value. Real estate agents and specialists are responding by certifying homes as 'unhaunted' and offering renovations to attract buyers.

The surge in property prices is attributed to higher building costs, labor shortages, and increased interest from overseas buyers. This trend has also created a market for specialized services, including thorough cleaning and spiritual cleansing by Buddhist monks, to reassure new occupants. Investors are particularly interested in these discounted properties, which can be rented for 7 to 8 percent less than standard homes.

As property prices soar, 'death tainted' homes find buyers in Japan

Kazutoshi Kodama is a real estate expert with a difference. He's also a ghost hunter, and he's investigating a property that saw a suicide and later another death. I spend eight hours at a location, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., carrying out a full survey of video, sound, electromagnetic waves, temperature and humidity, atmospheric pressure, and using a thermal camera in order to be able to certify that there's nothing present at the property. Once he's satisfied, he'll sign the house off as unhaunted, because this home in Chiba, near Tokyo, is a jiko-bukken, a property stigmatized by association with a death. And such homes would once have struggled to find a new owner or occupant in Japan. In the country's native Shinto religion, when a person dies with regrets, their spirit often lingers at the site, becoming a ghost with a grudge. But as Japanese property prices soar, some home hunters are finding that a discount helps overcome the fear of restless spirits. Akira Okuma is a real estate agent specializing in homes with difficult histories. In the case of this house, it's priced at around a 20 percent discount, because it's a stigmatized property. It'll be renovated before it's handed over to the new owner, which I think makes it very attractive to prospective buyers. Home prices have jumped in Japan as the cost of building materials and labor soars. The cheap yen has also lured a flood of overseas buyers. That has seen the average price for a second-hand condo in Tokyo jump by around a third over the past year. Now one expert estimates tainted homes can typically be rented for 7 to 8 percent less than usual. They're also hot buys for investors, who don't have to live there. And the new popularity is creating demand for some specialized services. The smell used to stick in my throat, says Tatsumasa Morikagi, but he reckons he's getting used to it. He's cleaning up the last remains of an elderly man who died here, and whose body wasn't found for over six months. But physical cleaning won't be enough for some potential occupants. Many need their home to have a more spiritual cleansing, too. That's where Buddhist monk Enku Watanabe comes in. Sometimes people who died alone don't realize they're dead, he says. His job is to tell the spirits it's time to move on to paradise, leaving this home free for its new and more earthly residents.

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