Vacant homes reach record levels in Japan

Japan had 9.0 million vacant homes as of October 1, 2023, representing 13.8 percent of its housing stock, according to a survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs relayed by nippon.com. This figure is a record, having doubled from 4.5 million in 1993.

Vacant homes increase steadily since 2018

Since 2018, an additional 507,000 vacant homes have been added, approximately the population of Toulouse. Approximately one out of every seven homes is vacant. In Okutama, a municipality in the Tokyo prefecture, Naoko and Takayuki Ida were offered a house without paying a single yen. CNN reported the story in 2018, four years after the event.

Vacant homes have varied uses and statuses

Approximately 42.8 percent of vacant homes are not for rent or sale. The Wakayama and Tokushima prefectures show 21.2 percent of vacant homes. Nine million vacant homes, not nine million ruins. The word "homes" in the title is a shortcut: the survey counts homes, including apartments, on a stock of about 65 million units.

Vacant homes include waiting properties and second homes

Approximately 4.4 million of these vacant homes are simply waiting for a tenant, nearly half of the total. Next come properties for sale, about 330,000, and second homes, about 380,000. Therefore, a studio between two tenants weighs in the statistics as much as a countryside house closed for years.

Vacant homes in the "others" category

The category that is concerning is called "others": 3.9 million homes, or 42.8 percent of the vacant homes, neither for rent nor for sale. It includes properties with no defined use, including those waiting to be demolished or renovated. Its increase since 2018 has reached 366,000 homes. Of the 507,000 new vacant homes since 2018, 366,000 fall into this category.

Cause of vacant homes is inheritance issues

The cause cited by the survey is very ordinary: heirs who do not know what to do with their parents' house. The scenario is predictable: after the parents' death, the house remains and no one has decided its fate. The property is neither sold, rented, nor occupied, and it ends up in the "others" category.

Regional disparities in vacant homes

Wakayama, Tokushima, Yamanashi: more than one out of five homes. The national average hides large disparities: Wakayama and Tokushima show 21.2 percent of vacant homes, Yamanashi 20.5 percent, or one and a half times the national average. In these three prefectures, therefore, more than one out of five homes is vacant.

Urban planning and construction issues

On the construction side, CNN cites architect Chie Nozawa from the Tokyo Toyo University: urban planning rules are weak, allowing developers to continue building despite the surplus. Japan experienced two population peaks in the 20th century, after World War II and in the 1980s, and each triggered mass construction of affordable housing. Buyers, however, prefer new homes.

Okutama's akiya bank initiative

A municipality in the Tokyo prefecture, Okutama, did not wait for the latest figures to react: it created its akiya bank in 2014. Okutama: 400 vacant homes out of 3,000. Okutama had more than 13,000 inhabitants in the 1960s and 5,200 in 2018.

Akiya bank program details

The municipality is among the localities threatened with disappearance according to a 2014 report signed by Hiroya Masuda, who foresaw nearly 900 towns and villages in danger by 2040. Offering houses there has become, according to CNN, a survival strategy. The bank of empty homes connects potential buyers with aging owners, but each municipality sets its own conditions.

Conditions for receiving a free house

Out of 3,000 homes, Okutama has about 400 vacant ones, or 13 percent of the local stock, a level close to the national average, even though the two figures do not date from the same year. Only half of these 400 homes would be recoverable. The others are too dilapidated or built in areas prone to landslides.

Successes and challenges of the program

By the end of 2018, nine empty homes had already found a family. Free, but with conditions. To receive a free house or renovation assistance, one must be under 40 years old, or form a couple with at least one child under 18 and a spouse under 50. Candidates commit to settling permanently in the municipality and investing in the renovation of a second-hand home.

Incentives for owners and new residents

On the part of the owners, the municipality offered up to 8,820 dollars per 100 square meters to encourage them to sell their property. Okutama also subsidized the repairs of the new residents. The program was not reserved for Japanese: families from New York or China have benefited from it, and a couple living in the center of Tokyo with their six children was supposed to move in early 2019.

Challenges in attracting new residents

Giving a house remains difficult in a country where new homes are preferred, notes CNN. For most of the new arrivals, a free house is not enough, according to the report. Naoko Ida, however, transformed an old Japanese house into a café.

Continuation and impact of the program

The Okutama program is documented in the CNN article from December 2018, and its continuation in 2026 could not be verified. Naoko's eldest daughter, however, says she is eager to leave the family home and rent an apartment in the city.