Will property prices rise in Fukuoka?

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How expensive are homes in Japan now?

Home prices in Japan currently range from surprisingly cheap to genuinely expensive, depending mainly on where we look, what type of property we mean and whether the home is new or used.

Why is it so hard to say what a home in Japan costs?

A single national average would blur those differences. Tokyo Kantei's latest figures show a 70 m² resale condominium in Tokyo's 23 wards at roughly ¥127 million. A new detached house across Greater Tokyo, which also includes much cheaper parts of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba, costs around ¥52 million. Move to the Kinki region around Osaka and the new-house average falls below ¥40 million; in Chubu around Nagoya, it is roughly ¥35 million.

The age of the property creates another large gap. Existing detached houses average about ¥41 million across Greater Tokyo, ¥29 million in Kinki and ¥24 million in Chubu. Go farther into smaller cities or declining towns and prices can fall much lower again.

So there is no meaningful answer such as “a Japanese home costs ¥50 million.” Japan has several very different housing markets sitting inside the same country.

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Are home prices in Japan actually rising now?

Home prices in Japan are rising overall, although the strongest increases are concentrated in the country's most successful cities.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's latest official land-price survey found residential land values up 2.1% nationwide. That matched the previous year's increase, while all land categories combined rose 2.8%, the strongest national gain since Japan emerged from its long post-bubble decline.

Tokyo is moving considerably faster. Residential land in Tokyo rose 6.5%, following a 5.7% increase the year before. Tokyo residential land is therefore appreciating at roughly three times the national rate.

The same direction appears in actual housing listings. At Home reported that Greater Tokyo new detached-house asking prices had increased year on year for 22 consecutive months by June, when the average reached ¥51.39 million. Tokyo Kantei's following monthly reading put its own Greater Tokyo benchmark at ¥52.39 million.

Japan has clearly moved beyond the old idea that residential property prices simply stagnate forever. The more useful question is where the increases are happening, because a 6% rise in Tokyo and weak pricing in a shrinking provincial town can easily exist at the same time.

Is Tokyo making Japanese homes look much more expensive than they really are?

Yes. Tokyo currently sits so far above most Japanese housing markets that national discussions about property prices can become badly distorted.

The clearest example is the new-condominium market. During the first half of 2026, the average newly launched condo in Tokyo's 23 wards cost ¥142.49 million. Across the wider Greater Tokyo region, the average reached ¥101.35 million.

One monthly release later produced an extraordinary ¥265.2 million average inside the 23 wards. That figure was heavily influenced by expensive Minato Ward projects where average unit prices approached ¥500 million, so it is better read as a product-mix spike than as the price of a normal Tokyo apartment.

The half-year average gives a better idea of how expensive the market has genuinely become. ¥142.49 million is still a huge number, and it followed an average of ¥136.13 million for the full previous year.

The ¥100 million threshold also needs context. More than 20% of newly listed detached houses in the 23 wards had crossed ¥100 million by early 2026, according to At Home. Nine-figure prices are increasingly common in central Tokyo, although most detached houses still remained below that level.

Once we leave Tokyo's core, the picture changes quickly. A new detached house across Greater Tokyo averages barely more than one-third of the first-half new-condo price inside the 23 wards.

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How much does a normal resale apartment in Tokyo cost now?

A family-sized resale condo in Tokyo's 23 wards currently costs around ¥127 million on Tokyo Kantei's standardized 70 m² benchmark.

That works out to roughly ¥1.82 million per square metre. Even that figure covers all 23 wards, so buyers in Minato, Chiyoda, Shibuya or other prime central locations can face much higher prices, while eastern and northern wards remain cheaper.

More interestingly, the latest trajectory has changed. Tokyo Kantei's 70 m² benchmark climbed for 25 consecutive months and reached ¥128.49 million in May. It then slipped 0.8% in June to ¥127.41 million and another 0.1% in July to ¥127.24 million.

Central Tokyo weakened before the rest of the metropolitan area. Tokyo Kantei found that the central wards had already posted three straight monthly declines by July, while Greater Tokyo as a whole was still climbing and reached ¥75.47 million for a standardized 70 m² resale condo.

Buyers are finally pushing back at the top end. Tokyo resale apartments remain extremely expensive, but the market no longer looks able to raise asking prices indefinitely without losing demand.

Are detached houses in Japan much cheaper than apartments?

Detached houses are still one of the easiest ways to avoid the extreme condo prices we see in central Tokyo.

Tokyo Kantei's latest new-house data put Greater Tokyo at ¥52.39 million. Tokyo prefecture itself was much higher at ¥67.63 million, but Kanagawa averaged ¥55.71 million, Chiba ¥42.50 million and Saitama ¥41.56 million.

Compare those figures with roughly ¥127 million for a standardized resale condo in the 23 wards or more than ¥140 million for the average new condo there during the first half of 2026. The difference reaches tens of millions of yen.

Location explains much of the gap. Detached houses usually require buyers to move farther from central business districts and major transport hubs. In return, the buyer generally gets more floor space and some land.

That trade-off still works remarkably well in Japan. Someone willing to live in Saitama or Chiba can currently buy a new family house for around one-third of what an average new 23-ward condominium costs.

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How much cheaper is Osaka than Tokyo for home buyers?

Homes around Osaka remain clearly cheaper than homes around Tokyo, even though Osaka prices have been rising lately.

For detached houses, Tokyo Kantei puts the latest Kinki-region new-home average at ¥39.44 million. Osaka prefecture itself is around ¥43.29 million. Greater Tokyo is roughly ¥52 million, while Tokyo prefecture approaches ¥68 million.

A buyer comparing the Osaka and Tokyo prefectural averages is therefore looking at a difference of roughly ¥24 million. That is a very large gap for two of Japan's biggest employment centres.

Condominiums are a little less straightforward because central Osaka has been getting more expensive. Tokyo Kantei's resale-condo series showed Kinki prices rising for 14 consecutive months by July, largely because of strong Osaka-area pricing.

Even after that run, Osaka still sits in a much more accessible price range than central Tokyo. Buyers who want a major Japanese city without paying Tokyo prices have a real financial reason to look west.

Are Nagoya, Fukuoka and other major Japanese cities still cheap?

Nagoya, Fukuoka and several other strong regional cities remain cheaper than Tokyo, although the word “cheap” is becoming less accurate in the best neighborhoods.

Aichi prefecture, centred on Nagoya, currently has an average new detached-house price around ¥36.95 million. That is roughly ¥15 million below Greater Tokyo and more than ¥30 million below Tokyo prefecture.

Fukuoka has moved higher. Tokyo Kantei's latest figure puts the prefectural new-house average at ¥41.01 million, after the market crossed ¥40 million for the first time in that series. Fukuoka's resale-condo market has also repeatedly tested new highs as the city continues attracting residents, companies and investment.

Sapporo shows a similar pattern in apartments. Strong central locations have experienced substantial repricing even though Hokkaido as a whole faces severe demographic decline.

This is happening because Japan's population is concentrating. A shrinking national population can coexist with rising housing demand in Tokyo, Fukuoka, central Sapporo or other places that continue pulling people from weaker regions.

Regional Japan is still much cheaper than Tokyo on average, but the biggest savings increasingly come with either a less central location, an older property or a city with weaker population growth.

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How much cheaper are used houses in Japan?

Used houses in Japan currently offer discounts of roughly 20% to 30% against new detached homes in several major regions.

Tokyo Kantei puts the average existing detached house in Greater Tokyo at ¥40.94 million compared with ¥52.39 million for a new one. The difference is around ¥11.5 million, or 22%.

In Kinki, existing houses average ¥28.63 million while new ones average ¥39.44 million, a discount of about 27%. Chubu has an even wider gap: ¥24.46 million for an existing house against ¥35.40 million for a new one, roughly 31% less.

Those averages help explain why foreigners searching Japanese property portals sometimes see houses at prices that look impossible next to Tokyo condo headlines. They are often looking at a completely different product: older detached housing where the building itself has depreciated heavily.

The discount can become much larger in smaller towns. Of course, cheap purchase prices can come with renovation costs, weaker resale demand and older earthquake or insulation standards. But the low entry prices themselves are real.

Why aren't Japan's shrinking population and empty homes pushing prices down?

Japan's shrinking population is pushing down housing demand in many places, but it has done surprisingly little to stop prices rising in the cities where people actually keep concentrating.

The official land-price data make the split easy to see. Residential land increased 2.1% nationally in the latest survey, while Tokyo residential land rose 6.5%. Commercial land showed an even wider difference: 4.3% nationally against 12.2% in Tokyo.

Japan's vacant-home problem is heavily geographical. An empty house in a remote town does very little to satisfy demand for a two-bedroom apartment near a Tokyo railway station. The properties are technically part of the same national housing stock, but buyers do not see them as substitutes.

The same effect appears in regional cities. Fukuoka can attract younger residents while nearby rural municipalities shrink. Sapporo can gain population from other parts of Hokkaido even while the island loses people overall.

National population decline therefore gives Japan an enormous pool of cheap housing without guaranteeing cheap housing in the places where demand is strongest.

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Are new homes in Japan becoming expensive because there aren't enough of them?

Limited supply and higher building costs are making new Japanese homes noticeably more expensive, especially in urban condo markets.

We can see the premium directly in detached housing. New houses cost about 22% more than existing houses across Greater Tokyo, 38% more in Kinki and 45% more in Chubu when we compare Tokyo Kantei's latest regional averages.

Tokyo condominiums show an even stronger version of the same pressure. During the first half of 2026, Greater Tokyo produced only 7,989 new condo units, slightly fewer than a year earlier, while the average selling price jumped 13.1% to ¥101.35 million.

Land, labour and construction materials have become more expensive, while developers have increasingly focused on high-value projects where costly sites can still produce acceptable margins. That pushes the average new unit farther away from what a typical household can buy.

The result is visible across several markets at once. Existing homes remain much cheaper, new detached houses keep setting records around Tokyo, and new-condo prices can rise even when the number of units released stays weak.

Are homes in Japan still affordable for Japanese families?

Average Japanese families can still buy homes in many parts of the country, but prime Tokyo property has moved far beyond normal household affordability.

Japan's Statistics Bureau reports that two-or-more-person worker households earned an average ¥653,901 per month in 2025, or about ¥7.85 million when annualized. Nominal income rose 2.8%, while inflation-adjusted income fell 0.9%.

Against that rough household-income benchmark, a ¥35.40 million Chubu new house costs about 4.5 times annual income. A Kinki new house comes to around five times income, and the Greater Tokyo new-house average is about 6.7 times.

Central Tokyo is in another category. A standardized ¥127.24 million resale condo in the 23 wards represents more than 16 years of that household income. The first-half new-condo average is above 18 times.

These are broad comparisons rather than mortgage underwriting ratios, because national household income and Tokyo property buyers are different samples. The size of the gap is still telling. Japanese wage growth has not come close to matching the increase in central Tokyo apartment prices.

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Do Japan's low mortgage rates still make expensive homes easier to buy?

Japanese mortgages still soften the cost of buying a home, but borrowing is noticeably less forgiving than it was during the ultra-low-rate era.

MUFG currently offers a 1.195% preferential variable rate for new mortgage borrowers. That remains exceptionally low by international standards.

Fixed borrowing tells a different story. MUFG's 10-year fixed rate is currently 3.63%, its 20-year fixed rate 4.39%, and its 31-to-35-year fully fixed rate 4.30%.

That spread matters. A buyer comfortable with variable-rate risk can still finance a Japanese home very cheaply. Someone who wants certainty for decades faces an interest rate several times higher.

Rising rates also hit at an awkward moment because purchase prices have already moved up sharply. Tokyo buyers are dealing with two pressures at once: apartments cost far more than a few years ago, while the financing advantage that once cushioned those increases has weakened.

Cheap mortgages still help Japan look affordable in monthly-payment terms, particularly outside Tokyo. They no longer erase a ¥100 million-plus purchase price.

Are Tokyo home prices finally starting to hit a ceiling?

Tokyo's most expensive resale markets are hitting clear buyer resistance, although the wider housing market has not turned into a broad downturn.

Tokyo Kantei recorded 25 consecutive monthly increases in its 70 m² resale-condo benchmark for the 23 wards through May. Prices then fell 0.8% in June and 0.1% in July.

The slowdown is stronger in the central wards. By July, central Tokyo had fallen for three consecutive months. Tokyo Kantei also reported increasing inventory and more asking-price reductions, with the share of listings undergoing price revisions moving above 50% in central areas during June.

Weakness then started spreading into expensive neighboring wards including Shinagawa, Meguro, Toshima, Nakano and Koto.

At the same time, the broader metropolitan market remained firmer. Greater Tokyo's standardized resale-condo price rose another 1.2% in July, while At Home's separate listing series had Greater Tokyo resale-condo prices rising year on year for 23 consecutive months through June.

So far this looks like a ceiling forming at the very top rather than a Tokyo-wide reversal. Buyers are becoming choosier once prices reach the ¥100 million-plus range, while cheaper surrounding markets are still catching up.

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Does moving outside central Tokyo really save that much money?

Moving outside central Tokyo can currently cut the price of a family home by tens of millions of yen without leaving the Tokyo metropolitan economy.

Tokyo prefecture's new detached-house average sits around ¥67.63 million. In neighboring Saitama and Chiba, the averages are roughly ¥41.56 million and ¥42.50 million.

That puts the saving at around ¥25 million compared with the Tokyo prefectural average. Compared with a ¥127 million standardized resale condo in the 23 wards, the difference exceeds ¥80 million.

Even within the condo market, Greater Tokyo's standardized 70 m² resale price of ¥75.47 million is far below the 23-ward figure.

The trade-off is mostly commute time and access to central locations. Japan's extensive railway network makes that compromise viable for many households, which helps prevent central Tokyo prices from becoming the only available option for people working in the capital.

This geographic flexibility is one reason to be careful when someone says “Tokyo housing costs ¥120 million.” Some Tokyo apartments do. A large share of the metropolitan housing market does not.

Are homes outside Japan's biggest cities still genuinely cheap?

Yes. Large parts of Japan still have genuinely inexpensive homes, especially when buyers accept older properties or weaker locations.

Even before reaching rural Japan, the broad metropolitan numbers are far below Tokyo's. Existing detached houses average around ¥29 million in Kinki and ¥24 million in Chubu. Those regions contain Osaka and Nagoya, so we are already talking about substantial urban economies rather than isolated villages.

Smaller cities can go much lower. Japan's huge stock of older detached homes means ¥10 million to ¥20 million asking prices are entirely plausible in markets with weak demand, and some abandoned or severely depreciated houses trade for far less.

Price alone can be deceptive, though. A cheap house may need major renovation, sit far from employment, lose value as it ages or take years to resell.

The interesting part of Japan's market is the sheer spread. Buyers can find sub-¥30 million homes inside major regions while other buyers pay more than ¥100 million for ordinary-sized apartments in Tokyo. Few developed housing markets contain such extremes at the same time.

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Is Japan still cheap compared with other developed housing markets?

Japan can still feel cheap outside its hottest cities, while central Tokyo has largely lost that reputation.

The traditional view of Japan as a cheap housing market came from decades of weak price growth, abundant construction, depreciating older houses and inexpensive regional land. Those features have not disappeared.

Prime Tokyo has changed much more dramatically. A family-sized resale condo around ¥127 million and new 23-ward apartments averaging above ¥140 million belong to a very different affordability category from the Japan that foreign buyers associate with inexpensive houses.

Meanwhile, a used detached house in Chubu averages roughly ¥24 million and one in Kinki roughly ¥29 million. New family houses in those regions remain mostly in the ¥35 million to ¥40 million range.

Japan therefore still offers low absolute housing prices in many economically developed areas, especially compared with major cities in countries where even suburban houses can cost the equivalent of ¥100 million or more.

Calling the whole country cheap now goes too far. A better description is that Japan has an unusually wide price range, with globally expensive neighborhoods and remarkably inexpensive housing existing side by side.

So how expensive are homes in Japan now?

Homes in Japan are still reasonably priced across much of the country, but Tokyo's strongest housing markets have become genuinely expensive and several major regional cities are following them upward.

A useful current range starts around ¥20 million to ¥30 million for many older detached homes in major regional markets. Roughly ¥35 million to ¥55 million covers a large share of new detached housing around Nagoya, Osaka and Greater Tokyo. Tokyo prefecture itself pushes the average new-house price closer to ¥68 million.

Central Tokyo apartments sit far above those levels. A standard 70 m² resale condo in the 23 wards costs roughly ¥127 million today, while new condos averaged around ¥142 million during the first half of 2026. Luxury projects can push individual releases dramatically higher.

Several recent developments strengthen that conclusion. National residential land prices are still rising, Tokyo is appreciating much faster than the country overall, Greater Tokyo new-house asking prices have risen year on year for almost two years, and Fukuoka's new-house benchmark has moved above ¥40 million. At the same time, central Tokyo resale condos have now declined for several consecutive months, which suggests the most expensive part of the market is finally testing what buyers will tolerate.

So “Japan is cheap” is only partly true these days. Someone buying an older house around Nagoya, Osaka or a smaller city can still find prices that look remarkably low for a developed country. Someone looking for a modern family apartment in central Tokyo is shopping in a completely different market, where ¥100 million has become common and ¥120 million to ¥150 million no longer looks exceptional.

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Who is the author of this content?

BAMBOOROUTES

A team specialized in real estate investing in APAC countries (Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, etc.).

We are a team of financial experts, legal professionals, developers, and local real estate specialists dedicated to helping people like you avoid mistakes when investing in real estate in a foreign place, particularly in Fukuoka. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can check our presentation page.