Japan Property for International Buyers
Income-producing buildings, luxury condominiums, fine homes and resort properties in Niseko, Hakuba and Okinawa — with no nationality or residency restrictions on ownership.
Why Japan
In much of Asia, foreign buyers face land-ownership bans or leasehold-only arrangements. Japan is different on both points — and that is the starting point for everything on this site.
There is no restriction based on nationality or place of residence. You do not need a visa, a Japanese address, or a local partner to own property in Japan.
When you buy land in Japan, you own it outright and indefinitely. There is no ground lease counting down and no renewal negotiation decades from now.
What We Cover
Tell us which of these you are looking for — and your budget in yen — and we will search on and off market through our network in Japan.
Whole apartment buildings, blocks of units and other tenanted property bought for rental income. We explain the lease position, current rent roll and management options before you commit.
High-end units in Tokyo and other major cities — for your own use, a second base in Japan, or long-term letting. Includes management association fees and rules to check up front.
Detached houses and traditional townhouses, including Kyoto machiya. We flag rebuilding restrictions, heritage rules and renovation costs that photos alone do not show.
Chalets, condominiums and land in ski resorts such as Niseko and Hakuba, plus beach-resort property in Okinawa — for personal use, seasonal rental, or both. Minpaku and hotel-licence rules are checked before purchase (see below).
Featured Areas
Niseko, Hakuba and Okinawa lead our overseas coverage — ski resorts in the north and centre, beach resorts in the warm south. City property — Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto and beyond — is sourced to order.
Japan's most international ski market. Chalets and resort condominiums around Hirafu and the Niseko United ski areas, with an established base of overseas owners, property managers and seasonal rental demand.
A 1998 Winter Olympics host valley, a few hours from Tokyo. Commercial land prices in Hakuba Village rose 35.6% year on year — the highest increase in Japan in the prefectural land price survey published by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Japan's southern island prefecture — a warm-climate resort market of beaches and clear seas, the counterpart to the ski resorts. Villas, resort condominiums and second homes along the main island's resort coasts, for personal use, long stays, or rental. Minpaku and hotel-licence rules are checked property by property before purchase.
Lodges, chalets and development land across Happo, Echoland and the wider Hakuba Valley — where zoning, snow-load construction and rental licensing differ street by street.
Luxury condominiums and income buildings in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto and Fukuoka, sourced to your brief rather than from a fixed catalogue.
News & Market Notes
Land-price movements, rule changes that affect owners, and updates from KING REAL ESTATE — posted here as they happen, starting with the Hakuba market.
According to JLL, commercial real estate investment in Japan reached ¥5,728.7 billion in the first nine months of 2026, up 22% year on year and a record for the January–September period. Investment by overseas investors rose 10% to ¥1,814.6 billion, accounting for 32% of the total, with active buying of large office and rental-housing assets and portfolio deals. Offices were the largest sector at 42%, followed by rental housing at 21% and hotels at 16%, and JLL forecasts full-year 2026 volume in the low ¥7 trillion range, up 10–20% on the year.
Source: PR TIMES (JLL) →Recruit's Greater Tokyo rental survey for fiscal 2025 puts the average rent on newly contracted homes at ¥96,908, up ¥834 from the previous year and the highest since the survey began in fiscal 2005. In a separate Recruit survey, 17.2% of current tenants said they had received a rent-increase notice, up 4.6 points from 12.6% a year earlier, with increases reported in every area. High purchase prices are pushing more households toward renting, and the upward trend in rents is a supporting factor for rental income on investment properties.
Source: Recruit survey coverage →Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is reported to be considering extending the prefectural individual business tax to people living overseas who run a rental or parking business of a certain scale in Japan. At present, individuals with no address or office in Japan cannot be taxed under this levy, leaving a gap in which only Japan-resident landlords of the same scale are taxed. Eligibility would turn on residence, not nationality; the standard rate is 5% after a ¥2.9 million deduction, with Tokyo's guide threshold at around 10 or more residential units. This is still under consideration and not yet decided — the next focus is whether it is included in the FY2027 tax reform outline, expected around December 2026.
Source: Crefty media explainer →In the prefectural land price survey published by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, commercial land prices in Hakuba Village rose 35.6% year on year — the highest increase anywhere in Japan. Demand from overseas buyers and resort development continue to push the valley's land market. What a plot is worth now depends heavily on its zoning, road access and rental-licensing position, which is why we check those points street by street before quoting a price.
See the Hakuba area guide →KING REAL ESTATE has opened a dedicated desk for overseas buyers. Enquiries from all countries now go to a single address — global@king-estate.com — and consultations are held on Zoom, so you can start from home. This site launches in English, Simplified Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Korean, with more languages planned as our language-based channels open.
Contact the global desk →Short-term letting in Japan is capped at 180 nights a year under the Minpaku Act, local ordinances can restrict it further, and condominium rules can ban it outright. Year-round letting needs a hotel licence. We have summarised the framework — and what to check on a specific property — in our minpaku guide.
Read the minpaku guide →To receive new posts by email, write to global@king-estate.com and ask to join the news list.
How To Buy
From first enquiry to registration, a typical purchase takes roughly one to two months once you have chosen a property. You do not need to be in Japan for most of it — consultations are held on Zoom.
Email us at global@king-estate.com with the type of property, area and budget you have in mind. We arrange a Zoom call to confirm your requirements and explain the local market — our team works in Japanese, so the call is held with AI translation support.
We search listed and off-market property through our network and send you a shortlist with prices in yen, running costs, rental position and the points to watch on each property.
Visit in person, or book an online viewing — a paid service, payable in advance (area fees below). We walk the property live by video for about 60 minutes per property. For an additional fee we can also arrange an interpreter who speaks your language, so you can ask questions as we go. For income property we also review the lease contracts and rent roll with you.
You submit a written offer. Before contracting, a licensed agent gives the legally required explanation of important matters (jūyō jikō setsumei) covering title, zoning, restrictions and terms.
You sign the sales contract and pay a deposit — commonly around 5–10% of the price. Contract documents can be exchanged by post and electronically where the parties agree.
You pay the balance, plus the taxes and fees set out below. Payment is made by bank transfer; we confirm in advance what identification and proof-of-funds documents your bank and ours will need.
A judicial scrivener registers the transfer of title in your name at the Legal Affairs Bureau. Keys are handed over, and — for rental property — management and rent collection arrangements begin.
Annual fixed-asset tax bills, management and insurance continue after completion. If you live overseas, we discuss appointing a tax agent (nōzei kanrinin) and a property manager as part of the purchase.
Online viewings are a paid service, payable in advance. Our staff travel to the property for you from our Nagoya base, so the fee depends on the area. Each viewing covers one property for about 60 minutes, live by video, and the base fee includes our staff's travel costs and, where needed, overnight accommodation.
| Area | Base fee — 1 property, tax incl. |
|---|---|
| Aichi Prefecture | ¥33,000 |
| Gifu, Mie & Shizuoka, and day-trip areas — Kanto, Kansai, Hokuriku and similar | ¥55,000 |
| Overnight area — Hakuba, Nagano and similar | ¥88,000 |
| Remote areas requiring flights — Hokkaido, Niseko and similar | From ¥132,000 |
A standalone paid service. The online viewing is a paid service in its own right, separate from any purchase. The fee includes arranging local staff, their travel costs, overnight accommodation where needed, and arranging the equipment for the live viewing.
All fees include tax and are payable in advance. A viewing is confirmed once payment is received. For remote areas requiring flights, the fee starts from ¥132,000 and varies with airfare — we provide a quote before you apply.
Costs
Budget for purchase taxes and fees in addition to the property price. The table shows the standard items; the estimator gives you a first figure for a specific price.
| Item | How it is calculated | When |
|---|---|---|
| Brokerage fee | Statutory maximum: (price × 3% + ¥60,000) + consumption tax, for prices above ¥4 million | Contract / settlement |
| Stamp duty | By contract price — e.g. ¥10,000 on a ¥30 million contract under the current reduced rates (to Mar 2027) | Contract |
| Registration & licence tax | On the assessed value (not the price): 2% for buildings, 1.5% for land under current reduced rates, plus judicial scrivener fees | Settlement |
| Real estate acquisition tax | 3–4% of the assessed value, billed by the prefecture a few months after purchase; reductions may apply | After purchase |
| Fixed-asset & city planning tax | Annual tax settled pro-rata with the seller at completion; billed yearly thereafter | Settlement, then yearly |
| For condominiums | Monthly management and repair-reserve fees set by the building's management association | Monthly |
Enter a purchase price to see an indicative total. Taxes are estimated on an assessed value assumed at 70% of the price — your actual assessment will differ.
Estimate only — not a quotation. We confirm every figure in writing before you contract.
Rates shown reflect the commonly applied reduced measures in force at the time of writing (November 2026) and change with tax reform. Assessed values are set by the municipality and are usually below market price.
Before You Rent It Out Short-Term
Many resort buyers plan to let their property when they are not using it. In Japan that is regulated — check which route applies before you buy, not after.
Under the Housing Accommodation Business Act, a registered home can be let for up to 180 nights per year. Registration is with the prefecture, and the property must display its registration number.
Municipalities and prefectures can restrict the days or areas where minpaku is allowed. In some resort and residential zones the practical season is much shorter than 180 nights.
To let beyond the minpaku limits, the property needs a licence under the Hotel Business Act (ryokan-gyō), which brings building, fire-safety and front-desk requirements that not every property can meet.
A condominium's management association rules can ban minpaku entirely, regardless of the law. We check the management rules (kanri kiyaku) before you make an offer.
This is a summary of the framework, not legal advice. The rules that apply to a specific property depend on its location, building type and management rules — we confirm them property by property.
About Us
We are 株式会社KING. (KING REAL ESTATE), a real estate company based in Nagoya, Aichi, handling sales, purchases, brokerage and valuations across Japan. Our team currently works in Japanese only: consultations are held with the support of AI translation. Online viewings are a paid, prepaid service (see the fees in How to Buy), and for an additional fee we can arrange an interpreter who speaks your language for the viewing.
From our Nagoya base we source property nationally — resort markets in Hokkaido and Nagano, city condominiums and whole income buildings — and guide overseas buyers through search, contract, settlement and registration with the same licensed process we use for Japanese clients. Consultations are held on Zoom, so you do not need to be in Japan to start, or to finish.
Our wider business includes the purchase and resale of inherited apartment buildings and land, and residential purchases across Aichi. The company has completed 300 transactions in total (company-wide figure).
FAQ
Yes. There is no restriction by nationality or residence status on buying land or buildings in Japan, and title is registered in your name in the same way as for a Japanese buyer. Some specific categories — such as farmland — have their own rules, which we flag if a property is affected.
For land, yes — freehold (shoyūken) is the standard form of ownership and has no time limit. Condominiums are held as unit ownership together with a share of the land. Leasehold property (shakuchiken) also exists in Japan, so we confirm the tenure of every property before you offer.
No visa is required to buy, and buying property does not itself grant any residence status. A Japanese bank account is not required to purchase — payment is usually made by international transfer — but we discuss the practical arrangements for paying taxes and receiving rent before you complete.
In most cases, yes. Viewings can be done by video, consultations are held on Zoom, and documents can be exchanged by post. Some steps may require certified identification or a power of attorney depending on how the contract is structured — we confirm what is needed for your case at the outset.
Long-term letting is generally possible, subject to condominium rules. Short-term letting (minpaku) is limited to 180 nights a year under the Minpaku Act, may be restricted further by local ordinance or banned by a condominium's rules, and year-round short-term letting requires a hotel licence. See the Minpaku section above.
Owners pay fixed-asset tax and city planning tax each year, based on the assessed value. Rental income earned in Japan is subject to Japanese income tax, and non-resident owners generally appoint a tax agent and file a Japanese tax return. We introduce the relevant professionals as part of the purchase process.
Write to us in your own language. Our staff currently work in Japanese only, so email replies and Zoom consultations are handled with the help of AI translation. Online viewings are a paid, prepaid service, and for an additional fee we can arrange an interpreter who speaks your language for the viewing. This site itself is available in English, Simplified Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Korean using the language switcher at the top.
Online viewings are paid in advance. The base fee for one property (about 60 minutes, including our staff's travel and any necessary overnight stay) is ¥33,000 for Aichi Prefecture, ¥55,000 for Gifu, Mie and Shizuoka and for day-trip areas such as Kanto, Kansai and Hokuriku, ¥88,000 for overnight areas such as Hakuba and Nagano, and from ¥132,000 for remote areas requiring flights, such as Hokkaido and Niseko — the remote fee varies with airfare and we provide a quote before you apply. All fees are tax included. Each additional property in the same area on the same day is ¥11,000. Arranging an interpreter in your language starts from ¥66,000, quoted by language and region.
Contact
One inbox for every country: global@king-estate.com. Fill in the enquiry builder and it will open your email app with everything addressed and written out — or simply email us directly.
For property enquiries, buying-process questions and Zoom consultations.
global@king-estate.com株式会社KING. (KING REAL ESTATE)
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan · +81 52-784-6847
Consultations are held on Zoom, with AI translation support — you do not need to travel to Japan to start.