2014 Volume 66 Issue 4 Pages 352-368
The purpose of this paper is to examine the current situation and problems of generational changes in the detached housing areas around Gakuenmae Station in Nara Prefecture, which are located in the inner suburbs of the Osaka Metropolitan Area and have gained a good reputation from the viewpoint of their residents and housing resources. The main methods employed are analyses of housing maps and public statistics, such as the Housing and Land Survey and Population Census, and interviews with real estate agents and residents’ associations. The main findings obtained can be summarized as follows:
First, the populations in detached housing areas near train stations have experienced more rapid aging corresponding to when these areas were developed; furthermore, population decline has already occurred in these areas, mainly due to out-migration of the elderly home-owning residents or their deaths, rather than from the out-migration of people in their children’s generation. Second, many empty houses are expected to soon appear in these areas through a similar mechanism, since their population composition is currently biased toward elderly inhabitants who face generational changes. Third, in older detached housing areas, new in-migration has been hindered by large house lots, physical features (including steep slopes and the height difference between house and road), the inconvenience of external garages, and large costs. Fourth, in this time of shrinking demand for detached houses, the real estate market has shown a polarization between popular, well-conditioned properties with good accessibility to train stations and less popular properties located at a distance from stations.
These findings suggest that signs of decline have already appeared even in the inner suburbs of the Osaka Metropolitan Area which had been regarded as exclusive and desirable residential areas.
