Land with housebuilder contract - strange land:house value ratio
Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2021 12:51 am
I am looking at buying a off-plan house as investment property for around 6,700万 - the property has a lot going for it in terms of being 2 mins walk to a major train line station and right next to a business we own.
The house will be a typical Japanese 75 SqM 3-bedroom off-the-peg type / nothing special or fancy but quality seems reasonable (we viewed another property from the same builder) and very fine for our staff accomodation. A standard Japanese wooden house built in 2021.
The land/house value ratio is totally messed up however. According to their breakdown the land is valued at 5790万 and the house is therefore 900万.
This is incorrect: in the area we are studying the market land value is 192万坪 where as this house maker is selling to us based on 410万坪.
Therefore they are massively inflating the value of the land relative to the house and they refuse to change the ratio to market levels, even upon contract signing.
Why would they do this? It seems dodgy - apart from calling into the question the quality of their construction it also hurts the buyer from a tax perspective who is buying some mega expensive land that they can't depreciate together with an almost worthless brand new house.
Also, I wonder if there a ledger of land sales/values in Japan - i.e. if I come to sell the house in 5-10 years time will the new buyer see what I paid for the land and the land/house ratio? If so, this buyer will surely have no interest to buy a house which was so cheaply constructed on rip-off land.
Something doesn't add up so appreciate any wisdom or insight as to what is going on here. Thank you.
The house will be a typical Japanese 75 SqM 3-bedroom off-the-peg type / nothing special or fancy but quality seems reasonable (we viewed another property from the same builder) and very fine for our staff accomodation. A standard Japanese wooden house built in 2021.
The land/house value ratio is totally messed up however. According to their breakdown the land is valued at 5790万 and the house is therefore 900万.
This is incorrect: in the area we are studying the market land value is 192万坪 where as this house maker is selling to us based on 410万坪.
Therefore they are massively inflating the value of the land relative to the house and they refuse to change the ratio to market levels, even upon contract signing.
Why would they do this? It seems dodgy - apart from calling into the question the quality of their construction it also hurts the buyer from a tax perspective who is buying some mega expensive land that they can't depreciate together with an almost worthless brand new house.
Also, I wonder if there a ledger of land sales/values in Japan - i.e. if I come to sell the house in 5-10 years time will the new buyer see what I paid for the land and the land/house ratio? If so, this buyer will surely have no interest to buy a house which was so cheaply constructed on rip-off land.
Something doesn't add up so appreciate any wisdom or insight as to what is going on here. Thank you.