The yen is weak. Experts have been predicting a strenghening yen for the last couple of years, and still predict that the yen will strenghten against the dollar in the long term. How about the short term? On January 18th the yen sagged to a near 4-year low against the dollar and near record lows against the euro. The Reuters article identified the culprit as The BOJ's decisiion to keep interest rates at 0.25 percent.
The yen is also cheap. As much as I enjoy living in Japan, I sometimes think of living in the U.S. These fantasies usually involve a house and it was during one of these reveries that I first heard of yen mortgages. Borrow dollars to buy your humble dwelling and you pay U.S. interest rates of about 6%. Borrow yen and your interest rate will be under 2%.Yen mortgages have been around for awhile. I searched the Internet and found articles like this one, from 1996. They seemed to be more popular in the U.K. The only source for yen mortgages in Japan I could find is Banner Japan. They offer 1.3% rates on domestic and overseas yen mortgages.
