How to Buy a House in Japan as a Foreigner: The Step-by-Step Process

Buying a house in Japan follows a fixed sequence that is the same for every buyer, Japanese or foreign, and it is faster than most countries: a cash purchase typically takes four to eight weeks from offer to keys. Nothing in the process requires you to be a resident, and every step can be done from abroad with the right documents and a representative on the ground.

This guide walks through the sequence as it actually happens, with what you sign, what you pay and how long each step takes. It assumes you are buying an existing house, most likely an akiya, for cash. If you are still at the "is this allowed?" stage, start with whether foreigners can buy property in Japan (they can).

The whole process at a glance

Akiya Air clients average about 60 days from the first call to keys in hand.

Step 1: search and shortlist

Japan has no multiple-listing service open to the public. Houses are spread across portals (SUUMO, LIFULL HOME'S, AtHome, Yahoo! Real Estate), the municipal akiya banks, and agents' own sites, and the same house is often listed by several of them at different prices. Akiya Air aggregates all of these into one map with one listing per house, which is why the explore page shows over 90,000 properties.

Before anything goes on the shortlist, three checks take minutes and save months:

• The registry copy (登記簿謄本). Confirms who owns the house, whether it carries a mortgage, and the land category. If part of the lot is registered as farmland, buying it needs the agricultural committee's consent.
• Road access (接道). To rebuild a house in Japan, the lot must touch a public road at least 4 metres wide along at least 2 metres of frontage. Houses that fail this are "non-rebuildable" (再建築不可): you can live in them and repair them, but never replace them, and they resell poorly. They are also often the cheapest listings, so the price is a clue.
• Hazard maps. Every municipality publishes flood, landslide and tsunami maps. Our listings show the hazard overlay, and the agent must disclose it at step 4 anyway, but it is better to know before you fall for a riverside kominka.

Step 2: viewing

See the house, or have someone see it for you. Our team walks every shortlisted property on a video call with you and looks where listing photos do not: under the floor for termite damage and rot, into the roof space for leaks, at the water heater, the septic tank or sewer connection, the state of the boundary with the neighbours, and how far the nearest supermarket and clinic actually are.

For an older house, a professional building inspection (ホームインスペクション) costs about ¥50,000 to ¥100,000 and is worth it on anything you plan to live in. It is not standard practice in Japan, so you have to ask for it, and it has to happen before the contract, not after.

Step 3: the purchase application

An offer in Japan is a written purchase application (買付証明書): one page with your name, the price you are offering, the deposit you propose, your preferred settlement date and any conditions. It is not legally binding on either side; it tells the seller you are serious and starts the negotiation.

Offers below asking are normal for akiya, and sellers who have waited years often accept them. What a seller cares about as much as price is certainty: a cash buyer with documents ready beats a higher offer that depends on a loan.

If the house is on a municipal akiya bank rather than with an agent, the application often goes through the town office, and some towns ask you to register as a prospective user first. The paperwork is slower but the process is otherwise the same. Akiya bank listings are marked as such on our map.

Step 4: the explanation of important matters

Before any contract, a licensed real estate transaction specialist (宅地建物取引士) must deliver the explanation of important matters (重要事項説明) to the buyer: a long document, read aloud, covering the registry, zoning, road access, utilities, hazard information, building restrictions, known defects, the condition of the boundaries and the terms of the contract. The agent and the specialist sign it and so do you.

This is the step that protects you, and it is why buying through a licensed brokerage matters. It can be delivered online. It is in Japanese; Akiya Air provides an English summary in advance and goes through it with you live, so you know what you are agreeing to before the meeting.

Direct sales from an owner with no agent, which some akiya banks allow, skip this step. That is legal, and it is where most of the horror stories come from.

Step 5: the sales contract and the deposit

The sales contract (売買契約書) is signed, usually on the same day as the briefing, and a deposit (手付金) is paid. Five to ten percent of the price is customary; for a cheap akiya the parties often agree a round figure instead, such as ¥100,000 to ¥500,000.

The deposit works both ways. If you withdraw before settlement, you forfeit it. If the seller withdraws, they return it doubled. After the date set in the contract (or once either side has begun performing), neither party can cancel without breach.

What you pay at this step:

The agent's fee is capped by law: 3 percent of the price plus ¥60,000, plus consumption tax, for any price above ¥4 million. For cheap houses there is a special rule since 2024: on a property priced at ¥8 million or less, the agent may charge up to ¥330,000 including tax to each party, which reflects the work involved in a sale that would otherwise pay them a few tens of thousands of yen. Expect to see it on an akiya.

Signing from abroad: the contract can be signed by a representative in Japan under a power of attorney, or you can sign the original yourself and courier it. Your signature certificate and affidavit of address (notarised at home or at a Japanese embassy) stand in for the Japanese seal and residence certificates.

Step 6: settlement

Settlement (決済) is one meeting, usually two to six weeks after the contract, often at a bank. In the same hour:

1. You pay the balance of the price by transfer, plus the pro-rated share of this year's fixed asset tax (the seller has already paid the year; you reimburse the days you will own it), plus the remaining agent fee and the judicial scrivener's fee.
2. The seller hands over the keys and any documents for the house.
3. The judicial scrivener (司法書士) checks everyone's identity and documents, then files the ownership transfer at the Legal Affairs Bureau the same day. The scrivener also collects the registration and licence tax (2 percent of the assessed value for a building purchase; land has had a reduced rate) and, for overseas owners, registers the domestic contact address required since 2024.

A non-resident buyer does not need to attend. A power of attorney to the scrivener or to Akiya Air covers the signatures, and the transfer is sent from your account abroad. Banks may ask the receiving side to document the source of the funds; it is routine, and we prepare it in advance.

About one to two weeks later you receive the registration identification information (登記識別情報), the modern equivalent of the title deed. Keep it; you need it to sell.

Step 7: after settlement

The purchase is finished but a few things follow:

• Real estate acquisition tax (不動産取得税) arrives by post three to six months later, at 3 percent of the assessed value for a house and its land, with reductions for most older homes. Overseas owners appoint a tax agent (納税管理人) in Japan to receive and pay it. Our guide to taxes and fees has the full list.
• Utilities are transferred into your name: electricity and water are straightforward; gas in rural areas is usually propane from a local supplier who also owns the tank.
• Fire and earthquake insurance. Not compulsory, but cheap relative to the risk, and some municipalities require fire insurance for renovation grants.
• The first repairs. Even a sound akiya usually needs the water run, the drains checked and the garden cut back before it is habitable. See what renovating an akiya really costs.
• Neighbourhood introductions. In rural Japan, a short greeting to the immediate neighbours and the head of the neighbourhood association, with a small gift, is expected and goes a long way.

What Akiya Air does at each step

We are not the seller's agent. We work for you: shortlisting against your brief, running the registry and hazard checks, viewing on video, negotiating, translating and attending the briefing, coordinating the licensed partner brokerage, the scrivener, the power of attorney and the transfer, and standing as your domestic contact after the purchase. Our Buy service covers the whole sequence above for a fixed fee, and the first call is free.

Frequently asked questions

Tell us what you are looking for on a free 20-minute call, or start browsing the houses for sale across Japan.