Japan Housing Finance Agency’s annual report on Flat 35 home loans showed 2018 was the sixth year in a row to see a shrinking floor size in the average homes purchased. The report also gives insight into what type of homes people are buying and how much they are spending on them, over the past ten years. 

According to the report the average age of a home loan borrower was 40.9 years, with an average income size of 2.4 persons and an average annual household income of 5,855,000 Yen (USD$54,000). The average apartment size was 65.90 spm (709 sq.ft), it was even smaller in the greater Tokyo region, with apartments 62.90 sqm (677 sq.ft).

The average price of a home was 29,825,000 Yen (approx. 276,000 USD), with the average loan covering 84.6 percent of the purchase price.

Apartments purchased are getting older, with 11.8 percent of second-hand apartments over 41 years old. In 2008, apartments of this age accounted for just 0.2 percent of the total. Apartments under 10 years old represented 18.1 percent of the total, down from a 49.8 percent share in 2008.

For detached second-hand homes, the average floor size was 111.70 sqm (1,202 sq.ft) -- this was the fourth year in a row to see a decline. The average age of a borrower was 42.2 years, with an average household size of 3.2 persons and an average household income of 5,030,000 Yen. 

The average purchase price was 24,733,000 Yen, and the average loan was 86.2 percent of the price.

Houses between 21 ~ 30 years old have increased from a 17.1 percent share in 2008 to a 30.7 percent share in 2018. Houses between 31 ~ 40 years old have increased from a 3.6 percent share in 2008 to an 11.8 percent share in 2008. Meanwhile houses under 10 years old represented 24.1 percent of the share in 2018, down from a 34.8 percent share in 2008.

Flat 35 is a home loan program introduced by the government-backed Japan Housing Finance Agency back in 2003. The loans provide full-term fixed-rate mortgages to home buyers and offered through a variety of retail banks.

Source: Japan Property Central, Japan Housing Finance Agency

Similar to this:

Tokyo buyers look towards second hand apartments

Average roadside land prices in Tokyo rises 1.3%

Tokyo second-hand apartment sales up 8.5% in June 2019