the use of existing housing.

In addition to improving the building evaluation technique, in order to establish said improvements in the existing housing market and the home financing market, the “Used Housings Market Activation Roundtable” was held from September 2013 as a means for the private businesses and financial institutions involved in the existing housing distribution to exchange opinions. In March 2015 the results from these discussions were summarized in the “Used Housings Market Activation Roundtable Report”.

In addition, the FY 2014 tax reform expanded the scope of existing houses qualifying for special tax treatments (such as tax credit for residential mortgages) to include those to which earthquake resistant retrofitting works were conducted after acquisition, irrespective of the limitation on the number of years from construction. Also, in the FY 2014 revision to the taxation system, a preferential measure for the registration license tax related to housing purchases in the buyback-resale business was created as a potential catalyst for expanding the existing housing/renovation market, and the FY 2016 tax reform extended the application for an additional two-year period. Further, in the FY 2015 revision to the taxation system, a new measure was created to reduce the real estate acquisition tax that is imposed on the buyback-resale businesses.

## (a) Preparing the market environment in which consumers can remodel their homes without worry

Consumers planning to remodel their homes are concerned about how much the remodeling will cost them and how to select the right contractors. Reassuring worried consumers is essential to expanding the home remodeling market.

Efforts currently taken in this regard include the Check Quoted Remodeling Costs for Free service available from the Housing Telephone Consultation Desk at the Center for Housing Renovation and Dispute Settlement Support, in which consumers can receive consultation on specific quotations, and Free Expert Consultation Programs at local bar associations. In FY 2015, there were 9,836 telephone inquiries regarding remodeling, 820 calls for checking quoted remodeling costs, and 899 calls for expert consultation regarding remodeling.

In FY 2015, there were 3,421 subscriptions to the Remodeling Defect Liability Insurance Program, an insurance package that combines an inspection on remodeling works in progress with warranties against possible defects in the works, and subscriptions to the large-scale repair work liability insurance program for large-scale apartment building repairs were filed for 955 apartments.

Contractors seeking to be insured are registered with the Housing Defect Liability Insurance Corporation, subject to their possession of a construction business license, proven performance, etc. The Program allows consumers to browse through a list of registered contractors at an Association of Housing Warranty Insurance website as a helpful tool in choosing contractors.

Further, under the “Housing Renovation Business Organization Registration System”, we are working on building an environment where there is a healthy development of the housing renovation business and consumers renovate their homes with confidence, by having housing renovation business operators that meet certain standards registered to ensure that the work of housing renovation businesses is properly managed and information can be provided to the consumers.

## (b) Developing a market environment in which consumers can purchase existing houses without worry

Consumers who consider the purchase of existing housing may worry about the quality and performance of housing. Therefore, to expand the existing housing distribution market, it is necessary to build an environment where consumers can purchase an existing house without worry.

In order to do this, we are promoting the popularization of appropriate inspections based on the “Existing Housing Inspection Guidelines” (established in June 2013), which are guidelines pertaining to the inspection of current state of housing, so that consumers can get a grasp on the condition of the existing housing.

In terms of the Existing Housing Sale Warranty Insurance System, an insurance package that covers both inspections and warranty to defects, there is a growing variation in insurance products—such as the new insurance product developed in FY 2013 which has a shorter coverage period but is relatively inexpensive—which has resulted in an gradual increase in the number of subscriptions to 9,309 in FY 2015.

Like the Remodeling Defect Liability Insurance Program, the Existing Housing Defect Liability Insurance Program allows consumers to search through a list of registered traders at a website to aid in their trader selection.