Akiya in Japan: can foreigners buy Japan's vacant houses?

Key points

• 9,002,000 vacant homes, 13.8% of Japan's housing, both record highs in the government's 2023 Housing and Land Survey (as of 1 October 2023). That is 513,000 more than in 2018.
• Most of them are not for sale. About half (4.44 million) are flats waiting for tenants. Only 326,000 were vacant because they were for sale. The "abandoned house" type that people mean by akiya is the 3.86 million in the "other" category (5.9% of all homes), mostly detached houses.
• Foreigners can buy an akiya on the same terms as any other property in Japan. There is no nationality restriction; non-residents file a post-purchase report under the Foreign Exchange Act.
• For homes priced at ¥8 million or less, brokers may charge up to ¥330,000 including tax to each side (a special rule since 1 July 2024), which can be more than the normal percentage cap.
• Check before you pay: whether the plot can be rebuilt on (road frontage), the building's age (pre-1981 seismic standard), access, water and septic, and what repairs will cost. A cheap house can cost more to fix than to buy.
• Neglect costs money. If the municipality formally recommends action on a poorly managed vacant house, the land loses the residential reduction in fixed asset tax (normally the taxable value of the first 200 ㎡ is cut to one-sixth).

How many akiya are there?

The figures come from the Statistics Bureau of Japan's Housing and Land Survey (住宅・土地統計調査), run every five years. The 2023 final results (published 25 September 2024) count every dwelling in which nobody lives:

Three things stand out:

• The total keeps rising. Vacant homes roughly doubled over the 30 years from 1993 to 2023, and the vacancy rate rose from 13.6% in 2018 to 13.8%.
• Akiya are mostly houses. 3,523,000 vacant homes are detached houses, and 80.9% of those (2,851,000) are in the "other" category: inherited family homes and houses whose owners moved away. Vacant flats are mostly ordinary rental vacancies (78.5% of vacant units in apartment buildings are for rent).
• "For sale" is small. Only 3.6% of vacant homes were empty because they were on the market. Most akiya are never listed, because the owners have not decided to sell, cannot agree among heirs, or the house is not worth the cost of selling.

The survey also publishes rates by prefecture and municipality; check the official tables (link in Sources) rather than secondary rankings, which often mix up the total vacancy rate and the "other" rate.

Can foreigners buy an akiya?

Yes. An akiya is legally just a house, and Japan does not restrict who may own land or buildings by nationality or residency. A tourist, a resident or an overseas company can be the registered owner. Buying a house does not give you a visa or a right to live in Japan.

The same procedures as any purchase apply:

• Non-residents generally file a report to the Minister of Finance within 20 days of acquiring Japanese real estate (Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act); see the FEFTA report.
• From 5 October 2026, every individual registering ownership provides their nationality (not shown on the public register); see nationality at registration.
• A few locations near defence sites and borders are designated under the Important Land Use Regulation Act; see security land zones by municipality.
• If you live abroad you will need someone in Japan for the annual property tax: a tax representative (納税管理人). With an empty house you will also want someone to check on it after typhoons and heavy snow.

Rules can change. Proposals under discussion in 2026 are tracked, with their status, on our foreign ownership rules tracker.

Where akiya are listed

• Municipal akiya banks (空き家バンク). Many towns run their own list of vacant homes whose owners want to sell or rent. Some banks set conditions for users (for example, intending to move to the town), and some put you in direct contact with the owner rather than a broker. Conditions differ by municipality: read the bank's own rules.
• The national akiya bank portals. MLIT selected two companies, LIFULL and At Home, to run nationwide sites that pull municipal listings together; trial operation began in October 2017 and full operation in April 2018. The listings still belong to each municipality.
• Ordinary brokers. Many low-priced houses are sold through local licensed brokers like any other property. A broker prepares the statement of important matters (重要事項説明), which is where rebuild limits, road frontage and other legal restrictions must be disclosed.

If a house is bought directly from the owner through an akiya bank without a broker, nobody is legally required to give you that statement. Budget for your own checks (a judicial scrivener for the registration, and an architect or building inspector for the building).

The real cost of a cheap house

The asking price is usually the smallest number. Add:

• Brokerage fee. The normal legal cap for a sale over ¥4 million is 3% of the price + ¥60,000, plus consumption tax. For "low-priced vacant homes" (低廉な空家等) costing ¥8 million or less, MLIT's notice allows the broker to receive up to ¥300,000 plus tax (¥330,000) from each side, from 1 July 2024, provided the fee is explained and agreed in advance. On a ¥3 million house the normal cap would be far lower, so expect this higher figure.
• Taxes and registration: registration and license tax, real estate acquisition tax and stamp duty, based mostly on the assessed value (often very low for old houses), plus the judicial scrivener's fee. Use our tax and cost calculator.
• Repairs. Roofs, termites, plumbing, septic tanks and wiring in houses left empty for years. Get an inspection (建物状況調査) and builder quotes before you commit. We do not publish repair-cost figures because there is no reliable official source; ask local builders.
• Clearing. Many akiya come full of the previous owner's belongings. Who removes them, and at whose cost, should be in the contract.
• Running costs. Fixed asset tax (and city planning tax inside designated zones), insurance, utilities to keep the house aired, snow removal in snowy areas, and a caretaker if you live abroad. For a non-resident owner's yearly to-do list see the 2026 owner checklist.

Five traps to check before buying

1. Can it be rebuilt? Under the Building Standards Act, a building plot generally has to touch a qualifying road for at least 2 metres (Article 43). Many old houses on narrow lanes or flag lots do not, and are sold as "not rebuildable" (再建築不可). You can usually repair them but not demolish and build new, which limits both use and resale. Ask the broker, and check with the municipality's building department.
2. Seismic standard. Buildings whose permits were issued before 1 June 1981 were designed to the old earthquake standard. Many akiya are that old. See how old-standard buildings compare in our earthquake and flood risk guide, and check the address on the municipal hazard map.
3. Zoning. Some rural houses stand in areas where new building is restricted (市街化調整区域), or on farmland whose transfer needs agricultural committee permission. Both can block your plans.
4. Water, sewage and access. Private wells, shared water pipes, old septic tanks and private access roads are common. Ask who owns the road and the pipes.
5. Short-term rental plans. Turning an akiya into an Airbnb needs a minpaku registration (180-night cap) or a lodging licence, fire-safety work and local approval, and some towns restrict it further. See minpaku rules by city and buying a ryokan.

The tax trap for neglected houses

Land with a house on it normally gets a large fixed asset tax reduction (住宅用地特例, Local Tax Act Article 349-3-2): the taxable value of the first 200 ㎡ is cut to one-sixth, and the rest to one-third (for city planning tax, to one-third and two-thirds).

Under the Vacant Houses Act, as amended with effect from 13 December 2023, a municipality can first guide and then formally recommend (勧告) action to the owner of a vacant house that is poorly managed (管理不全空家等) or already dangerous (特定空家等). Once a recommendation is issued, the land loses the residential reduction, so the tax on the land can rise sharply. Orders and, ultimately, demolition by the authority at the owner's cost can follow for dangerous houses.

For an overseas owner the practical lesson is simple: an empty house needs regular checks, cut grass, a sound roof and a contact person in Japan, or it becomes more expensive to keep.

Is an akiya a good investment?

We do not give investment advice, but the data points one way: akiya are cheap mostly because few people want to live where they are. The official survey counts 9 million vacant homes and the number keeps rising, which means resale can be slow and rental demand thin outside cities and busy resort areas. People who are happy with an akiya usually buy it to use themselves (a holiday base or a long-term project) and budget for repairs, rather than for a quick resale gain.

If you want price data before deciding, compare areas on our Japan house prices page: official sale prices for Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Sapporo and the ski resorts.

FAQ

Sources

1. Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2023 Housing and Land Survey, basic tabulation on dwellings and households (final results, 25 September 2024), summary: stat.go.jp PDF; survey home: stat.go.jp/data/jyutaku. 出典：総務省統計局「令和5年住宅・土地統計調査 住宅及び世帯に関する基本集計（確報集計）」
2. MLIT, national akiya and vacant-land bank (全国版空き家・空き地バンク): mlit.go.jp
3. MLIT, consumer notice on real estate transactions, including the brokerage fee rule for low-priced vacant homes from 1 July 2024: mlit.go.jp; brokerage fee notice: mlit.go.jp
4. MLIT, Vacant Houses Act (空家等対策の推進に関する特別措置法) and the amendment effective 13 December 2023: mlit.go.jp; fixed asset tax measures for vacant houses: summary (PDF), Local Tax Act extract (PDF)
5. Building Standards Act (建築基準法), Articles 42–43: e-Gov law search