Why banks won't touch that ¥5M house

Japan's cheap old homes have a financing wall — and closing day still runs on a stamp.

Morning. This week: the paper rule that keeps old houses cheap, and the little red seal that closes every deal. Let's snack.

The 22-year wall

Japanese tax law assigns wooden houses a statutory useful life (法定耐用年数) of 22 years — and banks lean on remaining useful life when setting mortgage terms. A 30-year-old wooden house is, on paper, past its useful life, so banks offer short terms or nothing. That's why cheap old houses are overwhelmingly cash purchases — and it's a key reason their prices stay so low. The wall is the financing, not necessarily the building: the buyer pool shrinks to whoever can pay cash.

The takeaway: the bargain isn't only the house — it's the thinner crowd of buyers who can actually buy it.

Browse older stock on the map →

Closing day runs on a stamp

Japanese property closings traditionally use a registered seal (実印) plus its certificate (印鑑証明書) from your city hall — the seal, not a signature, is what the registry trusts. No Japanese seal? Foreign buyers can substitute a signature certificate (affidavit) from their embassy or a notary back home. Non-resident buyers also appoint a domestic point of contact under registry rules — your judicial scrivener (司法書士) arranges the whole package.

The takeaway: none of this blocks a foreign purchase — but the substitutes take weeks, so start the paperwork before you find the house.

Look up a property's title registry →

Sources — Rules and law: 減価償却資産の耐用年数等に関する省令 (statutory useful-life table); 不動産登記 practice; municipal seal-registration system.

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