The 2024 Cheap Houses Japan survey results are in!
We had 2,197 people answer the survey this year – up from just 578 responses two years ago!
I wanted to understand your thoughts on purchasing a property in Japan, as well as your budget and location preferences so I can improve the relevance of future listings.
If you are new here, my weekly newsletter showcases 20 listings for real estate across Japan priced at under $150k and also provides helpful tips on the process of finding a home in Japan.
A huge thank-you to everyone who took the time to answer the survey. I feel incredibly grateful that I have such a positive and supportive audience!
First off, let’s talk a little bit about where survey respondents are located.
Less than 10% of you who answered my survey currently live in Japan, with the vast majority of you living outside of Japan. Unsurprisingly, many of you have some kind of connection to Japan in that you either used to live there (about 12%) and about a third of you are planning to move there.
It was lovely to see that many people shared that they are already spending part of the year in Japan, have family members now living there, or are dreaming of spending their retirement years there.
See also 👉️ my latest blog post on retiring in Japan.
In hindsight, I should have asked where exactly you are actually from! That would have been interesting to see— there’s always next year!
What do you most like about Japan?
In the results to the question: “What do you like most about Japan?”—a question that allowed for multiple answers—the culture (perhaps a little broad) and food both topped 80%, so it’s fair to say the majority of you value these things the most.
That said: it boggles the mind as to what happened to the 20% of you who didn’t rate Japanese food highly enough to say it was one of your favorite things!
This was followed by the safety and cleanliness of the country. These aspects undoubtedly stand out for visitors to Japan and make it a pleasure to live in as well (this is a great video on the subject of how Japan stays so clean despite the lack of public trash cans).
There were a large number of categories in this question to choose from, ranging from onsen hot springs to architecture, and it wasn’t surprising to learn that those of you who filled out the survey have a wide range of interests and so more often than not selected more than one answer, as you can see above.
Japan clearly has less of a reputation for technological prowess these days (you might be surprised to learn the fax machine is still a fixture in Japanese homes and businesses!) So it was also unsurprising that fewer people were attracted to Japan for the technology. But with the incredibly cheap yen these days, I can imagine it’s difficult to resist a gadget shopping spree at BIC Camera!
Some honorable mentions in the free “Other” field are cars with 7 votes, snowsports (skiing, snowboarding) or ski resorts (17), and also martial arts (>10 of you, including some mentions of kendo and judo), which I had forgotten has been a big draw for foreigners historically. I will include martial arts as an option in future surveys.
What price range of properties in Japan are you most interested in?
I was very happy to see that the $40k~$70k USD range came out on top with $20k~$40k not too far behind. Again, respondents were able to select more than one answer.
The reason I am satisfied with this result is I feel this range represents the best value in Japan. Looking at properties on the market for below $20k, it usually means big trade-offs in terms of the condition of the house and/or location (meaning: it might be far from train stations, airports, stores and other amenities).
As I explain in my post on why there are so many cheap houses in Japan, there are many relatively affordable second hand houses in good condition. This is largely due to the overwhelming cultural preference for new builds. But it’s still important to discern between good houses that have fallen out of preference, as compared to some of the more dilapidated properties that you might find in an akiya bank.
Read more 👉️ Should I Buy an Akiya?
Compared with the survey from 2 years ago, it seems that there is more interest in properties at a slightly higher price range. I would like to take some credit for this through education and articles that I’ve written that help manage expectations with regard to these very cheap houses, but it may well just be the impact of inflation!
What kinds of properties are people interested in?
Since most of you have discovered me on Instagram and it remains my biggest channel for sharing property information, I asked what kinds of properties are you interested in seeing more of there.
Most of you responded that you were interested in traditional houses and houses near big cities in about equal proportions. This may seem slightly paradoxical, since those houses near big cities tend to be newer on the whole, but they are still possible to find.
For example, kyomachiya townhouses are still very much part of the urban landscape in Kyoto (though the pricing of such properties is at another level these days due to their popularity).
It does seem the vast majority of you would like to see a bit of everything on Cheap Houses Japan, however, selecting at least four options. This is quite interesting for me, because it implies that you are still perhaps unsure about what to expect for each type of property and need to do a little more investigation before narrowing down your preferences.
That said, it does seem as though accessibility to a city and good transport links are considered important to the Cheap Houses Japan audience, as touched upon again later in the survey.
A number of you used the free “Other” field to ask specifically for properties near ski resorts, and perhaps I should have elaborated on what I meant by the cottage/cabin category since they are often in resort areas.
Where in Japan do you want to buy a house?
I asked “In which prefecture of Japan would you like to see more houses?” and included a map of the prefectures for reference.
Naturally the major cities on Honshu island are the most popular among this audience. Kyoto comes out on top at over 50% of responders, but Tokyo and Osaka were only very very narrowly behind.
It was somewhat surprising to see that Aichi ranked quite low among readers, since Nagoya—the fourth biggest city after Osaka, known as the home of Toyota and extremely well connected—is located here. This may be in part because Nagoya doesn’t share the same name as the prefecture it is in, unlike Tokyo and Kyoto and Osaka, and therefore it was not known to most of you that it was in Aichi. Aichi is known for its distinct ceramics called Tokoname ware, Inuyama Castle (with the oldest remaining tower in Japan, and matcha (produced in Nishio City).
Around a third of respondents also wanted to see more properties in the historical city of Nara, another well-known travel destination in Japan, as well as the prefectures neighbouring Tokyo with easy access to the capital (Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba).
A third also wanted to see properties in the northern island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido is a well-established destination among those living in other parts of Asia and Australasia seeking world class dining and winter sports, and I’ve noticed it is starting to garner more attention from outside of these regions.
Nagano and Wakayama prefectures have clearly become better recognized since the previous survey I ran, likely thanks to the skiing in the former, and the latter being home to Koyasan and the UNESCO-designated Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trails.
Similar results were seen for most other prefectures, and unsurprisingly the prefectures with the lowest “brand recognition” and that are less well-connected like Shimane, Tottori and Fukui (the prefecture bordering Kyoto to the north) taking last place. Shimane is home to one of Japan’s most important shrines at Izumo, and also the Adachi Museum of Art, which has what is considered Japan’s most beautiful garden.
I was pleased to see Saga prefecture in Kyushu was not in dead last as I think it’s criminally underrated, and even considered it when I was looking for my own house. Oita is also surprisingly low on the list considering the many things it has going for it: namely the famous hot springs at charming towns like Yufuin (which is served by a wonderful sightseeing train).
Are you planning to buy a house in Japan, and why?
Many respondents are still in that dreaming or maybe stage at the moment, but roughly a third of you are making steps to buy in the near future. Many respondents also specified a 5- or 10-year time frame for buying a house.
In this section, I asked “If you answered yes, what is your reason for wanting to buy a house in Japan?” and personal residence was the most popular answer (65%), followed by vacation home (50%) and a place for retirement (45%).
A quarter of you were interested in purchasing a property for the purposes of Airbnb, and I suspect if Airbnb were less of a challenge in Japan this would have been a more popular choice. But if you’ve done any research about short term rentals in Japan, you will know that it can be a challenge!
What qualities are most important to you in a property?
As confirmed earlier in the survey, location and accessibility by public transport is very important among survey respondents. Condition of the building is also a high priority. This is consistent with the price ranges that you are most interested in, and it makes sense to me that this ranked higher than price considerations.
Many of you took the opportunity to tell me about your preferences to be out in beautiful natural surroundings, and near great skiing. Storage space and a garage was also mentioned a few times, and certainly this is easier to find among countryside properties.
Feedback from Cheap Houses Japan Followers
I got some great constructive feedback from followers and newsletter subscribers that I am looking into this year.
Here are some examples:
💬 It would be amazing to have a searchable database of helpful realtors, banks, and lenders/brokers to help English speakers to navigate the often confusing, complex and downright complicated process in getting a property in Japan. Finding a Japanese and English speakers that is completely comfortable reading talking and listening in both languages so they can be paid to help ensure that when a foreign looks to buy they can with confidence.
🙋♂️ I am planning to run another survey of homeowners in Japan with the goal of building a database of contacts (real estate agents, renovation companies, etc), so keep an eye out for this soon!
💬 Maybe you could share updates of people who found their new home through your account and show like an update on how it’s going for them? I think most of them will make some kind of reno or the people like me who’d like to open a guesthouse/homestead. It would be nice to give them a shout out and will be encouraging for us who dream about it to see people who succeeded 🙂
🙋♂️ I encourage anyone for whom the information I provide has led to a purchase or made the process easier at all to update me on their progress—I’d love to hear from you! I have some personal stories also in the interviews section of this website.
I also got a ton of positive feedback and personal messages that really made me feel good about this project.
This project was started 3 years ago and while I still love working on it, it does have its challenges and it takes a lot of time and energy to put everything together weekly. Reading all the positive messages that people left was energizing and really made me happy!
Here are some nice examples:
⭐ I really appreciate what you do with the newsletter and on Instagram. It’s so helpful to find inspiration and what we do and don’t want in a property. I often get overwhelmed looking at Akiya banks and their roughly google translated pages for hours so it’s nice to see the details so clearly laid out.
⭐ I love the in depth information of the posts, the contexts paints a great picture of every property. Keep the good work!
⭐ I love your Facebook posts. They are not only informative, but really fun to look at and share with friends and family. Thank you!
Thank you!
Thanks again to everyone who filled out the survey or has followed Cheap Houses Japan on instagram!
