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Economy

Aging Japan grapples with 8m empty homes and stashed cash

More than $200,000 found at a Tokyo demolition site was left unclaimed

This uninhabited house in Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku is being refurbished with help from Dutch students.

TOKYO -- As Japan's population ages rapidly, a record 13.6% of housing stands empty nationwide while developers shrug off flat demand and continue their building spree.

A record-breaking 8.46 million residences were unoccupied in 2018, according to a twice-a-decade housing survey released Friday by the central government. The number has grown by 260,000 since the last survey in 2013.

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