Japan has a lot of abandoned houses, mostly in rural areas. The reason is that the country's population is shrinking, and buyers are simply not enough. Therefore, the government has decided to sell empty homes through auctions at affordable prices.

According to official statistics for 2018, there are at least 8.5 million “akiya” (unoccupied houses in Japanese) in the country. Some experts believe that there are already much more—the number can go up to 11 million.

Now the Japanese authorities have begun to subsidize the repair and sale of such houses—most often in the range of $25,000, but there are objects costing as little as $500.

According to Matthew Ketchum, founder of the real estate consulting firm Akiya & Inaka, foreigners, including Americans, are now actively interested in such homes.

“At first, we got most of the inquiries from people in Japan, Australia, and Singapore,” Ketchum says. “Now the situation has changed, and the vast majority of our customers are from the United States.”