AtHome Co Ltd, a major Japanese property portal, announced the results of their "Actual State of Single Family Home Repairs" survey on November 2nd.

The survey was conducted via the internet among 398 people ​​nationwide who purchased brand new freestanding homes and lived in them for more than 30 years. 

The survey was conducted between July 27th and 30th of 2021.

The average cost of repairs at the time surveyed was 4,702,000 yen for wood frame houses and 6,177,000 yen for steel frame and reinforced concrete houses.  

The average between the two figures is 5,321,000 yen.

The average structural age of those surveyed came to 36.8 years.

For steel frame and reinforced concrete houses, the older they were, the more they cost to repair compared to wood frame houses of similar age.

When asked about the life expectancy of freestanding homes, the average was 56.6 years. 

Although many people think the life expectancy of steel frame and reinforced concrete houses is longer than that of wood frame, the average life expectancy reported from surveyed homeowners was actually similar across all structure types.

Surprisingly, only 8.3 percent of respondents set aside money for future repairs every month and that average monthly amount came to 25,000 yen per month. 

This left 91.7 percent of surveyed homeowners admitting they hadn’t saved monthly money dedicated for future home repairs at all. 

To those who didn’t set aside monthly repair funds, when asked how they paid for the fixes, 76.7 percent of this segment said they had to dip into their household savings.

Other homeowners responded that they had borrowed money from a bank or family for repairs while others waited for their annual bonuses before paying the contractors. 

This implies that when repairs did need to be made, they were surprise costs that quickly became a major headache for the majority of surveyed homeowners.

In terms of what repairs were needed, the most frequent response was the exterior walls (75.9 percent), followed by roof repairs (69.3 percent) and toilet repairs (68.8 percent). 

The total number of repairs and costs for each response was 1.8 repairs or 1,734,000 yen for exterior walls, 1.6 repairs or 1,445,000 yen for the roof, and 1.7 repairs or 432,000 yen for the toilets.

62.8 percent of the respondents had no experience doing their own repair work, while 37.2 percent did. 

To those do-it-yourselfers, when asked what they repaired, wallpaper and interior walls topped the list (21.6 percent) , followed by exterior walls and toilets (both 16.9 percent for each).

When asked what they would like to have been told by the real estate company about future repairs when purchasing their house, the most common response was more advice regarding the aging of the building (44.4 percent) with other top responses similarly echoing this one.

The indication here is when homeowners purchase their freestanding homes, they tend not to think past developer and manufacturer warranties when buying brand new. 

All of the above responses are averages and for those owning in Tokyo, it is safe to assume that your future repair costs will be higher.  

While parts and materials usually are standardised nationwide, labour costs are not, with higher labour being charged in more populous areas due to higher costs of living.

If you own your own freestanding house, your resale value will be directly affected by how regimented your approach is to maintenance and upkeep of your real estate.  

One of the benefits of owning a freestanding house over a condo is no monthly association fees; however, as the above makes clear, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dedicate a line item in the household budget specifically for future property repairs.

Start saving now so in the future, you can thank your past self for the wise decision made today.

Further Reading

AtHome Actual State of Single Family Home Repairs (Japanese only; November, 2021)