Interest Rate

We have an agreement with Shinsei Bank to borrow 80% of the house price.

Unfortunately they won't make a contract with us until the house is completed and they send their inspector to see that the building meets legal standards. This is unfortunate becasue the mortgage rate seems to be on the increase. There have been two 0.5% rises in the last 6 months, and the way the yen has been getting stronger recently, I anticipate more rises before the build is finished.

I believe that the government will lend us up to 7,200,000 yen at 2%. This is something I wil investigate more in the coming weeks. We may also split the mortgage between fixed and variable rates to hedge our bets.