Suppose foreigners want to find a place to live for a long time out of their country. In that case, Japan is a favourite destination for most of them because of its open real estate policy. An open real estate policy means that ex-pats can own property here, which is undoubtedly a privilege that not every country possesses. Besides that, Japan is definitely an underrated country in the world when talking about owning a vacation home.
How much is a vacation home in Japan?
The price of a house in Japan depends on many aspects, such as position, land, age, and quality of the homes. Be that as it may, Japanese houses are comparatively cheaper, their property taxes are lower, and most preeminently, the country's neighbourhood is very alluring for spending days leisurely.
Take a look at the breakdown of prices below:
Areas, where it's located, can play a vital role in the price. However, it is an open statement that the price of the houses in the city centre will always be higher than the homes in suburban areas.
As stated in the year 2019, Flat 35 User Survey by Japan Housing Finance Agency, real estate property which is a 70sqm in different places in Japan would cost:
Area | Custom-built
house |
Ready-built
House |
Second-hand
house |
All of
Japan |
¥35,000,000 | ¥35,000,000 | ¥26,000,000 |
Tokyo | ¥38,000,000 | ¥39,000,000 | ¥32,000,000 |
Kansai | ¥36,000,000 | ¥33,000,000 | ¥23,000,000 |
Tokai | ¥35,000,000 | ¥30,000,000 | ¥22,000,000 |
Source: Japan Housing Finance Agency
While most people choose a house for the purpose of living, there are many essential factors they might also consider besides that, like things that cannot be altered. For example, some may want their house to be facing South, or they want to have an ample amount of natural light and air flowing in, or a home on a big street, or just at the corner of the road.
And all of these can affect the price.
Japan is a country where most of its people live in the city. This results in a higher land price in the cities, which leads to an increase in the costs of houses. On the contrary, land price is very affordable on the other side of the country in Japan, where fewer people live.
A new house will always demand a higher price than an old one. According to questionjapan, a house aged more than 30 years will cut you the cost of tax. On the other hand, when one buys new homes for sale, they can save on the renovation cost.
Rejected houses (or abandoned houses) are very much available in the countryside of Japan. The price of such homes is usually very low.
Japan's capital, Tokyo, is the most expensive city in Japan, and the same goes for its house prices. In this city, for a 70 square meter apartment, you'll need to have about 46 million JPY.
prices can differ based on the city. Check out the table below for an average price per square meter in some of the largest cities in Japan:
City | Apartment in the city centre | Apartment outside the city centre |
Japan — country average | 955,429.00 | 536,975.01 |
Tokyo | 1,192,697.88 | 698,889.95 |
Yokohama | 2,375,000.00 | 337,500.00 |
Fukuoka | 715,000.00 | 383,333.33 |
Osaka | 683,220.16 | 493,191.22 |
Kobe | 550,000.00 | 400,000.00 |
Saporo | 320,000.00 | 250,000.00 |
Source: Numbeo.com.(July 2020)
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