Empty Houses No One Wants: A Foreign Buyers' Dream? | Full Episode | SBS Dateline
Free with YouTube's ads, posted by SBS Dateline (News & Current Affairs | Dateline)
An episode of Full episodes from SBS DatelinePrevious episodeNext episode: Smuggled from Sri Lanka: How Australia Is Trying to Stop the Boats | Full Episode | SBS Dateline
It plays in YouTube's player, loaded from youtube-nocookie.com only when you press Play. From then on YouTube's player runs on this page: it shows YouTube's ads, YouTube receives your address and this page's, and its player may keep its own cookies and storage on your device. Pressing Play means you agree to be bound by YouTube's Terms of Service and accept this site's privacy notice, which says what this site keeps; Google's Privacy Policy covers what YouTube collects.
Add to the wallWatch on YouTubeSBS Dateline on YouTubeNews & Current Affairs | Dateline
Clips are not offered for films in YouTube's player: YouTube's terms allow no copies of its videos (YouTube API Services Developer Policies, III.E.1).
About this episode
As homeownership becomes increasingly expensive, we travel to Japan, where millions of abandoned houses, known as akiya, are being sold cheaply or given away. Can foreign buyers help solve Japan's empty house problem?
This episode first aired in 2023.
00:00 Intro 01:21 How can a foreigner buy an akiya? 07:06 Meet the "akiya hunters" 10:38 Why Japan has so many empty homes 14:31 Why the Japanese don't want to inherit homes 20:22 Looking to invest in an akiya
Subscribe to Dateline: https://bit.ly/3gkQHtr
Website http://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DatelineSBS/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/datelinesbs/
Watch more Dateline, SBS 9.30pm Tuesday, and on SBS On Demand.
Dateline is an Australian award-winning international documentary series with a current affairs backbone. Every week we transport you to a different part of the world to share half-hour stories about family, social injustice, identity, tragedy, redemption and survival. We scour the globe to bring you special characters and a world of daring stories.
Network Terms & Conditions: https://www.sbs.com.au/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.sbs.com.au/privacy Feedback or complaints: https://www.sbs.com.au/complaints
- Posted by
- SBS Dateline, the YouTube channel of News & Current Affairs | Dateline, on 2025-05-27
- Rights holder
- News & Current Affairs | Dateline, whose own site links this channel (checked 2026-11-07)
- Length
- 27 min
- Where it plays
- Wherever YouTube plays: its rights holder sets no limit
- Made for kids
- No, as YouTube designates it
- Language
- English, as YouTube records it
- What it is
- A full episode, as its rights holder calls it
- Who can watch here
- Adult profiles and older: no rating is recorded on YouTube, so adults only. How these videos are chosen
The title, description, picture, length, category, ratings, broadcast times, where it plays and whether it is made for kids come from YouTube. The rights holder named, how it was checked, what it is by its own title or playlist, and which profiles see it are this site's own.