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

Bangkok Post Group

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. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00Kazutoshi Kodama is a real estate expert with a difference.

00:05He's also a ghost hunter.

00:07And he's investigating a property that saw a suicide and later another death.

00:14I spend eight hours at a location from 10pm to 6am

00:18carrying out a full survey of video, sound, electromagnetic waves,

00:22temperature and humidity, atmospheric pressure and using a thermal camera

00:27in order to be able to certify that there's nothing present at the property.

00:35Once he's satisfied, he'll sign the house off as unhaunted

00:39because this home in Chiba, near Tokyo, is a jikobuken,

00:44a property stigmatized by association with a death.

00:48And such homes would once have struggled to find a new owner or occupant in Japan.

00:54In the country's native Shinto religion, when a person dies with regrets,

00:58their spirit often lingers at the sight, becoming a ghost with a grudge.

01:03But as Japanese property prices saw,

01:06some home hunters are finding that a discount helps overcome the fear of restless spirits.

01:13Akira Okuma is a real estate agent specializing in homes with difficult histories.

01:18In the case of this house, it's priced at around a 20% discount

01:28because it's a stigmatized property.

01:30It'll be renovated before it's handed over to the new owner,

01:33which I think makes it very attractive to prospective buyers.

01:36Home prices have jumped in Japan as the cost of building materials and labor soars.

01:48The cheap yen has also lured a flood of overseas buyers.

01:52That has seen the average price for a second-hand condo in Tokyo

01:56jump by around a third over the past year.

01:59Now one expert estimates tainted homes can typically be rented for 7% to 8% less than usual.

02:06There are also hot buys for investors who don't have to live there.

02:11And the new popularity is creating demand for some specialized services.

02:16The smell used to stick in my throat, says Tatsumasa Morikagi,

02:24but he reckons he's getting used to it.

02:26He's cleaning up the last remains of an elderly man who died here

02:30and whose body wasn't found for over six months.

02:34But physical cleaning won't be enough for some potential occupants.

02:39Many need their home to have a more spiritual cleansing too.

02:46That's where Buddhist monk Enku Watanabe comes in.

02:50Sometimes people who died alone don't realize they're dead, he says.

02:55His job is to tell the spirits it's time to move on to paradise,

03:00leaving this home free for its new and more earthly residents.

03:04.

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