The apartment in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, where police found the remains of nine bodies in late October is one of 12 units in a two-story wooden apartment building located 10 minutes from Sobudai Station on the Odakyu Odawara line. Each unit consists of one room and a kitchen and, according to various media, rents for about ¥20,000 a month. The suspect in the murder case moved into the apartment in August, even though he didn't have a job at the time.
A real estate industry person told Tokyo Shimbun that he would advise the owner of the property to tear the apartment building down and build a new one on the land, because it will be very difficult to rent out any of the rooms in the building from now on, owing to its notoriety. In fact, neighbors may also want the owner to rebuild, thinking that property values in the immediate vicinity will go down as long as it stands.
However, 10 of the 12 units are presently occupied, and apparently none of the remaining tenants wants to move out.