Japanese worker Ms. Sawarabi bought Tokyo apartment via 35-year loan

Japanese Worker Buys Tokyo Apartment with Long Loan

A 29-year-old Japanese office worker named Ms. Sawarabi has purchased her first apartment in Tokyo for about 6.48 billion Vietnamese dong including total renovation and furniture costs.

Ms. Sawarabi earns approximately 5 million yen per year, equivalent to about 830 million Vietnamese dong or 69.1 million dong monthly. She used 5 million yen in savings as a down payment and took a 35-year bank loan exceeding 33 million yen.

The apartment is an older unit exceeding 50 square meters in Tokyo's 23 wards, about seven minutes on foot from a train station, built over 30 years ago.

Ms. Sawarabi initially set a property price limit of 30 million yen and a monthly loan repayment cap of 80,000 yen. Her actual monthly payment reached about 110,000 yen, exceeding her 100,000 yen target, with management and repair fees around 34,000 yen.

During the renovation process, Ms. Sawarabi exceeded her budget by about 1 million yen and had to cut numerous items, ultimately saving 564,087 yen from the original plan.

Mother Considers Helping Daughter Buy Apartment

As housing costs continue to climb in many countries, individuals and families are adopting unconventional financial strategies to afford homes. These strategies range from weekly flights to avoid rent to family loans that require clear repayment plans and careful budgeting.

A mother with 600 million dong in savings is weighing whether to give her daughter 300 million dong to buy a 2.4 billion dong apartment in Vietnam.

The daughter has been married four years, and the couple has about 1.7 billion dong, leaving a 700 million dong shortfall. The mother and husband have 600 million dong in savings plus a pension, so giving 300 million would halve their funds.

The mother worries she lacks health and work capacity to earn back the money quickly if needed later in life. Experts recommend parents first ensure their own living costs and retirement savings before offering any financial support to adult children.

Some public commentators advised the mother to keep her savings for retirement, while others proposed giving 100 million dong and lending 200 million dong to the daughter.

Student Flies Weekly to Avoid High Rent

Ms. Sophia Celentano, a University of Virginia student, chose to live with her parents in South Carolina during the entire internship. In 2023, she secured a marketing internship at Ogilvy Health in Parsippany, New Jersey, requiring only one day weekly in person.

She flew from Charleston, South Carolina to Newark, New Jersey every Wednesday for 10 weeks, waking at 3 a.m. and returning home in the evening that day.

The distance between Charleston and Newark is about 966 kilometers, making each round trip nearly 2,000 kilometers overall in total. A round-trip flight cost about $100, and with Uber, she estimated weekly expenses around $225, or roughly 5.7 million dong.

After 10 weeks, her total travel cost was about $2,250, which is more than 57 million dong in Vietnamese currency overall, reaching that estimated total amount.

If she had moved to New Jersey, rent alone for 10 weeks would have cost roughly $4,250 for housing in total. Despite spending more than 50 million dong on flights and Uber, Ms. Sophia saved $2,000 compared to renting near her office.