Japan’s 8.5 million abandoned rural homes, or akiya, have become a ‘cheap’ option for foreigner owners

The glut delights foreigners, who’ve been able to buy one for as little as US$23,000. But underlying the surplus are meaningful shifts in Japan’s culture. Demographic and economic patterns – including a shrinking population and migration from the countryside to cities – are combining to create a “ghost town” problem in Japan.

There are more than 8.5 million akiya, or abandoned homes, in rural Japan, according to the country’s 2018 Housing and Land Survey, its most recent on record. By some counts, there are many more. The Nomura Research Institute, or NRI, pegs the number closer to 11 million. The institute predicts akiya could exceed 30 per cent of homes in Japan by 2033.

For foreigners looking for a change of scenery, akiya are an opportunity to be a homeowner abroad on the cheap. Some foreigners have even turned to akiya to enrich themselves by launching short-term-rental businesses.

Why people are buying them is an easy answer – they’re cheap. But why so many have sat empty for so long is more complicated.

As Richard Koo, the chief economist at NRI, told them at the time, the Japanese countryside has been hollowing out since the mid-‘90s.

There’s also the matter of a shrinking population. Japan’s fertility rate declined for a seventh consecutive year in 2022, falling to 1.26 births per woman from 1.30 births per woman in the previous year.

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The Japanese prefer new builds to pre-owned homes, Koo said. Part of this is due to the lack of a strong DIY renovation culture in the country, Douglas Southerland, the senior economist responsible for OECD monitoring of the Japanese economy, told BI at the time.

Structural safety is also a