On February 4th, AtHome announced their Popular Station Rankings for Tokyo Prefecture, Tokyo 23 wards, and Tokyo non-23 wards reports.  

Measuring page views on their portal site between December 1st and December 31st of 2021, the rankings were constructed by aggregating which property details pages were viewed the most around which stations.

Important to note is this is not search data but users clicking through to view a specific property after they initiated a search.

The results are separated into categories based on the following floor plans:

• Single - Studios and 1 bedroom with small dining  / kitchen room (1DK)
   
• Couple - 1 bedroom (1LDK), 2 bedroom plus kitchen (2K) and 2 bedroom plus dining / kitchen (2DK)
   
• Family - 2 bedroom with full living, dining and kitchen (2LDK) and above
   
• Overall - aggregating all the page views for all layout types

In total, AtHome released three reports; Tokyo Prefecture, Tokyo 23 ward and Tokyo non-23 ward rent ranking reports, the originals of which are linked at the bottom of this article.

Why is this important?

Page view data on dominant property portals like AtHome give insight into renter demand as one can assume that following the page views are inquiries for viewings which beget rental applications.

If you are a renter, these specific stations will have higher rents than surrounding stations and landlords will be reluctant to negotiate at all knowing there is demand for these locations.  

Expanding your search to nearby stations around those listed below can help you get a great place for a great rent.

If you are a property investor, you are most likely familiar with the foreign associated sections of Tokyo and not the names mentioned below.  

However, strong rent levels and low vacancy rates make for a better investment, as well as the mantra that the best property investments are ones that you wouldn’t live in yourself, like studio apartments in less than marquee areas for example.

Most likely your renters will be Japanese and while you might not be familiar with these areas, your prospective tenants will be.

You would be well served to instruct your realtors to watch these areas in addition to any other searches you have going on. 

Overall Layout Rental Page Views

Machida Station on the JR Yokohama Line and Odakyu Odawara Line, which offers easy access to Shinjuku and Yokohama, topped the list in Tokyo Prefecture and the Tokyo non-23 ward reports, while Ikebukuro Station on the JR Yamanote Line amongst other lines, topped the list in the Tokyo 23 ward report.

Source: AtHome

Single Rental Unit Page Views

For the Single units in the overall report, Machida Station came in first, followed by Ikebukuro Station in second, and Sangenjaya Station on the Tokyu Denentoshi Line in third. 

In the Tokyo non-23 ward report, Machida Station, Kichijoji Station and Mitaka Station, both on the JR Chuo Line, and Ikebukuro Station, Sangenjaya Station, and Nakano Station on the JR Chuo Line appeared in that order.

Source: AtHome

Couple Rental Unit Page Views

For Couple rental layouts, the Tokyo Prefecture report listed Machida station as most viewed, Mitaka station as second, and third with Ikebukuro station.

In Tokyo’s 23 wards, Ikebukuro Station came in first, followed by Shinkoiwa Station on the JR Sobu Line and Koiwa Station on the JR Sobu Line.

Source: AtHome

Family Rental Unit Page Views

Tokyo Prefecture reported Machida Station again as most viewed, Hachioji Station on the JR Chuo line as second, and Kasai Station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line as third. 

For Tokyo’s 23 wards, Kasai Station came in first, Oizumigakuen Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line second, and Chitose Karasuyama Station on the Keio Line third.

Source: AtHome

Further Reading

AtHome December 2021 Tokyo Prefecture Rental Page View Ranking Report (Japanese only; February 2022)

AtHome December 2021 Tokyo 23 ward Rental Page View Ranking Report (Japanese only; February 2022)

AtHome December 2021 Tokyo non- 23 ward Rental Page View Ranking Report (Japanese only; February 2022)