Akiya
See the akiya first, read about them second
There is no shortage of articles explaining what an akiya is. There are very few pages that show you the houses. This page lists what Japan Property Research currently has on the market under ¥5,000,000, cheapest first, and then explains how the official akiya banks work and what to check before you buy. Every statistic on this page cites its source.
72,833listings on the market under ¥5,000,000
On the market under ¥5,000,000
Cheapest first. Compiled from public listing data and refreshed hourly.
¥100
伊那市
Used Detached House ・ Land 300 m² ・ Building 120 m²
¥1,000
香川県 丸亀市
Detached House ・ Land 86 m² ・ Building 81 m²
¥1,000
北海道 北斗市
Land ・ Land 128 m²
¥1,000
北海道 北斗市
Land ・ Land 172 m²
¥3,090
福岡県 福岡市
Land ・ Land 128 m²
¥10,000
山口県 萩市
Land ・ Land 29 m²
¥10,000
北海道 中川郡美深町
Used Detached House ・ Land 231 m² ・ Building 95 m²
¥10,000
千葉県 南房総市
Used Detached House ・ Land 340 m² ・ Building 46 m²
¥10,000
佐賀県 唐津市
Used Detached House ・ Land 505 m² ・ Building 215 m²
¥10,000
香川県 三豊市
Used Detached House ・ Land 431 m² ・ Building 112 m²
¥10,000
岩手県 花巻市
Land ・ Land 772 m²
¥10,000
北海道 室蘭市
Used Detached House ・ Land 385 m² ・ Building 84 m²
¥10,000
愛媛県 新居浜市
Used Detached House ・ Land 173 m² ・ Building 120 m²
¥10,000
宮城県 大崎市
Used Detached House ・ Land 165 m² ・ Building 42 m²
¥10,000
青森県 八戸市
Land ・ Land 397 m²
¥10,000
新潟県 柏崎市
Used Detached House ・ Land 327 m² ・ Building 86 m²
¥10,000
新潟県 村
Land ・ Land 681 m²
¥10,000
宮城県 栗原市
Used Detached House ・ Land 421 m² ・ Building 200 m²
¥10,000
静岡県 袋井市
Land ・ Land 1,002 m²
¥10,000
青森県 八戸市
Used Detached House ・ Land 174 m² ・ Building 82 m²
¥10,000
秋田県 横手市
Used Detached House ・ Land 786 m² ・ Building 157 m²
¥10,000
青森県 五所川原市
Used Detached House ・ Land 995 m² ・ Building 247 m²
¥10,000
愛知県 岡崎市
Land ・ Land 22 m²
¥10,000
愛知県 岡崎市
Land ・ Land 74 m²
Prices shown are asking prices and exclude acquisition costs such as agency commission, registration tax and real-estate acquisition tax. Condition has to be verified on site.
Finding it is the easy part
The checks above are the actual work, and a free account is where you do them. Pull the parcel by its lot number, put road frontage, zoning, hazard and land-price layers over the same map, and order the registration record to confirm who owns the property and what is secured against it. Save the ones you are considering and track their price changes.
How many akiya there actually are
All figures from the Statistics Bureau 2023 Housing and Land Survey, surveyed as of 1 October 2023.
- Vacant dwellings in Japan[1]
- 9,002,000
- Share of all dwellings that are vacant[1]
- 13.8%
- Vacant homes that are not for rent, not for sale, and not holiday homes[1]
- 3,850,000
Up 513,000 from the 8,489,000 recorded in 2018, and the highest on record.
Also a record high. The rate has risen at every survey since 1993.
This is the category people mean by "akiya": 5.9% of all dwellings, up 370,000 since 2018.
Where the akiya are
There are two different "vacancy rate" measures and they get mixed up constantly. If you are looking for an akiya to buy, the measure that excludes homes already listed for rent or sale is the one that matters.
What an akiya bank actually is
An akiya bank is a public matchmaking register run by a municipality to connect the owners of vacant homes with people who want to use them. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism selected two operators by public tender to run a national akiya bank that searches across participating municipalities in one place. Both are Japanese-only, and coverage depends on each municipality choosing to register its properties, so an akiya bank never holds every akiya on the market. In practice the ordinary property portals carry far more cheap houses than the banks do.[3]
The national akiya banks (government-backed)
What to check before you buy
Whether it can be rebuilt (the frontage rule)
Under Article 43 of the Building Standards Act, a building plot must generally front a road at least 4m wide for at least 2m of its boundary. A plot that fails this test is saikenchiku fuka, "cannot be rebuilt": demolish the existing house and you cannot put a new one up. This is a common reason a house is priced at almost nothing, and it is not always disclosed prominently. Check the actual road frontage before you commit.[5]
Find the parcel by lot numberWhether it falls into the higher property-tax category
The amended vacant-house act, in force from 13 December 2023, means a home formally advised as a "poorly managed vacant house" loses the residential land tax reduction on its land. Previously only the more serious "specified vacant house" designation did. The threshold moved earlier in the process, so if you are buying something that has been sitting neglected, ask the municipality whether it has been designated.[4]
Who the registered owner is, and what is attached
Long-neglected akiya frequently have a registered owner who has died with no succession registration completed, or a mortgage still recorded against the title. Pull the registration record and confirm the current owner and any security interests before you negotiate.
Order the registration recordSources
The figures and legal statements on this page come from these primary sources.
- [1]Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. 2023 Housing and Land Survey: Basic Tabulation on Dwellings and Households, Summary of ResultsSurvey date 1 October 2023. The survey runs every five years, so these are the current official figures.
- [2]Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. 2023 Housing and Land Survey: ResultsLanding page for the full tabulations, including the prefecture-level tables.
- [3]Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Vacant House and Vacant Land Bank Information PageNames the two operators selected by public tender to run the national akiya bank, and links to both.
- [4]Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Act on Special Measures concerning Vacant Houses: related informationIncludes the amendment in force from 13 December 2023 and the guidelines defining a poorly-managed vacant house.
- [5]e-Gov (Digital Agency), Government of Japan. Building Standards Act (Act No. 201 of 1950), Article 43The frontage rule that decides whether a plot can be rebuilt on.
Sources last verified: 2026-09-12