Dwelling vacancy share in Japan 1978-2018

The share of vacancies among the total number of dwelling units in Japan stood at 13.6 percent in 2018. This represented an increase from 7.6 percent in 1978.

High vacancy rates in rural areas

As of 2018, close to 8.5 million dwelling units in Japan were unoccupied. Vacancy rates were especially high in rural parts of the country, while more populated urban areas such as Tokyo recorded vacancy rates below the national average. Amid the aging and shrinking of the population in Japan, vacant and abandoned houses pose an increasing challenge to local governments across the country as the stock of dwellings is already exceeding the number of households.

Vacant home databases

As one measure to the problem, local governments and private companies have set up databases to find buyers for vacant homes (“akiya”) and land (“akichi”). However, although vacant and abandoned land and property was a common issue recognized in everyday life, the level of awareness of so-called “akiya banks” was rather low, as revealed in a survey.