房子多到?jīng)]人要，免費送你要不要？

Japan is currently selling their houses at heavily discounted prices and is even giving away some for free due to the abundance of abandoned properties. Did someone say FREE houses? The houses offered are mostly in rural areas, though many young people prefer to live in the city.

由于存在大量廢棄房產(chǎn)，日本目前正以超低價格出售房屋，其中有一些甚至還免費贈送。是的，你沒聽錯，免費贈送。不過免費贈送的房屋大多位于農(nóng)村地區(qū)，多數(shù)年輕人則更喜歡居住在城市。

As reported by mStar, they have estimated to have around 10 million abandoned properties and have crafted the ‘Akiya’ scheme to provide help for young families to get involved in the property market, where houses are given away at a cheap price, or even for free. The scheme also provides subsidies to encourage renovations.

據(jù)報道，日本目前估計有大??約1000萬套廢棄房產(chǎn)，并發(fā)起了「Akiya」計劃以促使年輕家庭購買這些房產(chǎn)。在該計劃中，這些房屋都將廉價出售，甚至免費贈送。此外，該計劃還會提供補貼以鼓勵買主重新裝修房屋。

Despite this, due to Japanese superstitions, vacant and abandoned houses are even harder to sell in the market as they are often associated with suicide, murder or even ‘Kodokushi’, which refers to a Japanese phenomenon of people dying alone and only being discovered after a long period of time. Therefore, these houses are thought to be unlucky.

盡管如此，由于日本的迷信傳統(tǒng)，空置與廢棄的房屋更難以在市場上出售掉，因為這些房屋往往與自殺、謀殺甚至「孤獨死」有關(guān)。其中，「孤獨死」是指日本人獨自死亡且在很久之后才被人發(fā)現(xiàn)的現(xiàn)象。因此，這些房屋被認為是不吉利的。

There are a few requirements for one to be eligible for the ‘Akiya’ scheme. For instance, all family members must be under the age of 43 and must have children old enough to attend primary school. Those who saw the properties in these rural areas think that the spacious layouts are suitable for them; however, there are several risks in the ‘Akiya’ scheme to consider.

當然，要想獲得「Akiya」計劃的參與資格，還是有一些要求的。例如，一些地方政府要求所有家庭成員的年齡必須小于43歲，并且必須有一個大到足夠上小學(xué)的孩子才行。據(jù)那些看過這些農(nóng)村地區(qū)房產(chǎn)的人表示，這些房屋的寬敞布局很適合他們。不過與此同時，「Akiya」計劃也存在幾個需要考慮的風險。

Firstly, the renovation costs might amount to the same price as purchasing a property elsewhere. Apart from that, there is also the uncertainty where the original property owner might turn up one day and demand their land back.

首先，重新裝修的費用可能與在其他地方購買一套房產(chǎn)的價格一樣高。除此之外，還有一個不確定的因素是：原先的業(yè)主可能有一天會突然出現(xiàn)，并要求他們歸還自己的土地。

According to some, purchasing an ‘Akiya’ house is considered to be a ‘social failure’ but it is still an option to consider for many young families due to the expensive house prices in Tokyo that are constantly rising, with each new property costing around RM3.3 million since January 2018.

也有一些人認為，購買一套「Akiya」房子會被視為「社會失敗者」，但鑒于東京昂貴的房價還在不斷上漲，自2018年1月起每套新房產(chǎn)的價格已高達79萬美元，因此許多年輕家庭也不妨考慮一下購買「Akiya」。

What do you guys think of these houses being offered for free in Japan? Would you move into one of these homes or will you be too ashamed by the connotations that come with it?

如果是你的話，你愿意搬進其中一套免費提供的房屋嗎?還是會因此而感到羞恥呢?