Japan ski property for sale: six resorts compared on official data

The six resorts side by side

All figures from MLIT's buyer survey (取引価格・アンケート), the one data set that covers every resort, so the rows are comparable. Medians of land and house sales; ¥/㎡ is per ㎡ of land. Each resort page has the yearly series, districts and stations.

Median of the benchmark points' change: Official Land Price (公示地価, 1 January 2026) and Prefectural Land Price Survey (基準地価, 1 July 2026). These are appraisals of land as if vacant, not sale prices. Past change says nothing certain about future prices.

How to read the numbers

• Small samples. Rusutsu had 13 recorded sales in five years, Nozawa Onsen 45. A single lodge sale can move the median, which is why their pages show five-year ranges, not yearly trends.
• Village, not slope. Most recorded sales are in the town centres. Niseko Hirafu appears 9 times in eleven years; Rusutsu's resort district not at all since 2023.
• One data set. The buyer survey is used here because brokers' closed prices (成約価格) hold almost no sales in these towns. The two are never mixed.

Resort by resort

• Niseko: the priciest and most international. Land-only plots roughly quadrupled from about ¥11,000–12,000/㎡ (2015–18) to ¥45,161/㎡ in 2025 on 44 sales. Kutchan town-centre plots: median ¥54,000/㎡ in 2023–25. Niseko prices · Niseko land prices
• Hakuba: the fastest riser in the data, with steady volumes of 41–66 sales a year. Land plots rose every year from 2022 to ¥18,986/㎡ in 2025. Three-quarters of sales are in Hokujo. Hakuba prices
• Furano: two markets. The area as a whole is flat, but Kitanomine at the foot of the ski area had a median sale of ¥45m in 2023–25 (11 sales), about seven times station-area prices per ㎡. Furano prices
• Myoko: the value option. Ski-side land is about ¥2,400/㎡. It is the only resort here with resort condos in the closed-price data: 9 small units in Tagiri sold for a median ¥2.1m. Myoko prices
• Nozawa Onsen: a compact hot-spring village; few sales, but official land values up strongly. Nozawa Onsen prices
• Rusutsu: big resort, almost no recorded market; village centre only. Rusutsu prices

What the data misses

The official data has no condominium sales in Niseko, Hakuba, Furano, Rusutsu or Nozawa Onsen, and no category for hotels, guesthouses or hotel-residence units. Ski-in/ski-out chalets are recorded as "house" when they appear at all. For those, the evidence is broker listings and the broker's own sale records, which you should ask for. If you are looking at a lodge or small hotel, see buying a ryokan or inn and the hotel occupancy statistics.

Renting it out

Ski towns have their own short-term rental limits, set by the prefecture:

• Kutchan (Hirafu): from 1 June 2026, absentee minpaku in more residential zones is limited to weekends and holidays (about 120 nights). The Hirafu resort districts are generally outside that limit. Kutchan's accommodation tax is 3% from 1 April 2026, plus Hokkaido's tax.
• Niseko Town: the Hokkaido limits apply in designated residential zones; much of the town is outside them (180 nights). Accommodation tax moves to 3% from 1 November 2026.
• Hakuba: Nagano's ordinance is one of Japan's strictest and includes ski-area surroundings in the winter peak, where absentee minpaku is barred. Confirm the exact area and period with the village.

Full details and sources: minpaku rules by city. Many resort owners use a hotel or inn licence instead, through a local manager; typical fees are in property management fees and the rental net income calculator.

Costs of owning a ski home

• Buying costs of roughly 6–8% on top of the price: cost of buying.
• Annual property tax. A holiday home does not get the residential land reduction a main home gets: property tax for foreigners.
• Snow. Roof snow clearing and winter management are a real cost in Hokkaido and Nagano; ask the manager for a written quote.
• Paperwork. Non-residents report the purchase to the Ministry of Finance within 20 days; see the 2026 changes (forms, not a ban) and the buyer's guide.

FAQ

Sources

1. MLIT Real Estate Information Library (不動産情報ライブラリ), transaction prices (buyer survey) and closed prices for Kutchan, Niseko Town, Hakuba, Furano, Kamifurano, Nakafurano, Myoko, Nozawa Onsen and Rusutsu, 2015Q1–2025Q4: reinfolib.mlit.go.jp (site checked 4 October 2026; figures as on each resort page)
2. MLIT, Official Land Price (地価公示) 1 January 2026, and prefectural land price surveys (都道府県地価調査) 1 July 2026, via the same library: reinfolib.mlit.go.jp
3. Short-term rental rules and accommodation taxes: municipal and prefectural sources listed on minpaku rules by city (rules checked 27 September 2026)