The housing market in Japan is very different:

- There's no shortage, rather the opposite, even in urban areas that are still growing in population.

- Housing value typically only depreciates over time.

In Switzerland, real-estate mostly belongs directly or indirectly to pension funds. This creates all sorts of wrong incentives.

In asia, generally down payment is very low, and even low interest that could expand up to 30, 40 years to pay back. The home price is usually much lower than western countries with a few exceptions like Hong Kong, Shanghai, etc.

"Asia" is very vague and not helpful, unfortunately. I was asking about Japan ;-)