On April 12th, SUUMO Research Center, the housing arm of parent company’s Recruit Research Institute in, released the results of its Metropolitan Area New Detached Houses for Sale Contractor Trend Survey for 2021, covering purchasers of new freestanding homes in the Greater Tokyo Area (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, and parts of Ibaraki Prefectures) during January to December of 2021. 

The number of respondents was 2,502 via an online survey.

The most purchased properties were in Tokyo’s non-23 wards at 24%, followed by Saitama at 23%, Kanagawa at 21%, Chiba at 17%, Tokyo's 23 wards at 15%, and Ibaraki Prefecture  at less than 1%. 

Compared to 2020, Tokyo’s 23 Wards increased by 3 percentage points.

By life stage, single households were more likely to live in Saitama and Chiba prefectures than other locations in the Greater Tokyo Area. 

The age of the buying head of household was 30 to 34 years old at 29%, followed by 35 to 39 at 25%, with the majority of respondents in their thirties. The proportion of each age group is almost the same as in 2020, with the average age being 36.7 years old.

The life stages of the purchasing households were 64% for Households with Children, 27% for Households with Married Couples with No Kids, and 3% for Households with Single Members. 

Of the married-couple households, 24% were Double Income No Kids (DINKS) households, continuing the upward trend since 2016. 

The percentage of dual-earners with kids households increased 4% from 2020 to 65%, the highest since 2014. 

The annual household income of contracted households was 4 to 6 million yen and 6to 8 million yen at 25% each, accounting for half of the total. 

The average total household income rose 380,000 yen from 2020 to 7.79 million yen, the highest result since 2014.

The average purchase price was 43.31 million yen, the highest since 2014.  In the price range, 11% of respondents selected 60 million yen or more, nearly double the figure from 20 years ago. 

The most common loan amount taken out was 40 to 50 million yen at 26%, followed by 50 million yen or more at 20%.  The average loan amount was 40.75 million yen, exceeding 40 million yen for the first time since 2014.

The most common reason for deciding to buy a house was to own a house for children and family at 60%, followed by wanting to live in a larger house at 42%. The larger house respondents increased by 5 points from 2020, exceeding 40% for the first time since 2014.

Looking specifically at the type of housing considered, the most common choice other than newly built freestanding homes was second hand freestanding homes at 37%, followed by newly built condominiums (25%) and second hand condominiums (19%). 

The percentage of respondents considering multiple housing types concurrently increased, with 36% of respondents considering only new single-family homes, a decrease of 3 points from 2020.

Further Reading

SUUMO Research Institute Metropolitan Area New Detached Houses for Sale Contractor Trend Survey for 2021 (Japanese only; April, 2022)