Akiya houses: why Japan has nine million empty homes

Tax policy, vacant land, and incentives

• Japan taxes vacant land more heavily than land with buildings, pushing owners to keep or add structures (often low-effort uses like tiny parking lots).
• This has unintentionally encouraged leaving dangerous or derelict houses standing to preserve tax breaks.
• A 2023 legal change reportedly removed tax preferences for abandoned homes and expanded local powers to act against unsafe akiya; impact is still unclear.
• Some see this regime as an example of “land value tax” working; others argue Japan’s affordability is driven more by generous zoning and the end of its 1980s bubble.

Demographics, geography, and housing demand

• Population aging and decline are seen as core drivers of the akiya issue, especially in rural areas and small towns.
• Cheap housing is disproportionately located where people don’t want to live or where services (schools, shops, transport) are shrinking.
• Japan overall is not expected to have “ridiculously cheap” housing in core metros; instead, people and value concentrate in a few big cities.

Affordability, construction quality, and codes

• Tokyo housing is described as comparatively affordable versus major US cities, with better quality/size for the price.
• Many akiya are described as structurally beyond repair or not up to modern earthquake codes; demolish-and-rebuild is often cheaper than renovation.
• Historically, houses were built with limited expected lifespans (fire, earthquakes, changing codes), contributing to low resale value and demolition norms.

Buying and using akiya (especially as a foreigner)

• Foreigners can legally own property; no residency requirement, but getting local mortgages from abroad is difficult.
• Bureaucracy is paperwork-heavy but navigable via agents; language is a major barrier as everything is in Japanese and often requires physical presence and stamps.
• Many “too cheap” akiya come with obligations to renovate; municipalities may be wary of non-resident buyers who won’t follow through.
• Farmland attached to a property adds regulatory hurdles (must show and fulfill a farming plan).

Comparisons and broader context

• Similar “1 euro” or token-price schemes for derelict homes exist in parts of Italy and Switzerland.
• The US and China also have large vacant housing stocks, but with different patterns: US shrinkage/speculation; China ghost cities and speculative overbuilding, mostly outside prime areas.