Japan Property Taxes and Fees for Foreign Buyers: What You Pay at Purchase and Every Year

Japan taxes property lightly by the standards of Europe or North America, but it taxes it in several small pieces, at different times, and the names do not translate neatly. This guide lists every cost a foreign buyer meets, in the order you meet them, with the rates in force and a worked example for a typical akiya. Foreigners pay exactly the same taxes as Japanese owners; the only differences are administrative, and they are covered at the end.

Rates and relief measures below are those in force in 2026. Several reliefs are renewed by the Diet every two or three years, so your judicial scrivener confirms the figures at settlement.

The one-time costs when you buy

Assessed value, not price. Three of these taxes are charged on the assessed value (固定資産税評価額) set by the municipality, not on what you paid. For land it is typically 50 to 70 percent of market value; for an old wooden building it is often a few hundred thousand yen. This is why the taxes on a cheap akiya are small even when the percentages look familiar.

Consumption tax. There is no consumption tax on a house sold by a private individual, which is nearly every akiya. It applies to the building (not the land) only when the seller is a business, and it is already inside the agent's fee.

A worked example: a ¥3,000,000 akiya

Land assessed at ¥1,200,000, a 1975 wooden house assessed at ¥400,000, bought through an agent.

The same calculation on an ¥8 million house comes to roughly ¥550,000, or 7 percent, and on a ¥15 million house roughly ¥1,000,000, also 7 percent. The lesson: on the cheapest houses the agent's fee dominates, because the ¥330,000 cap is a floor in practice. It is still money well spent, as the buying process guide explains, because the agent is who delivers the legal briefing that protects you.

The annual costs of owning

Fixed asset tax (固定資産税) is the property tax: 1.4 percent of assessed value per year, billed by the municipality every spring, payable in one sum or four instalments. Residential land up to 200 m² is assessed at one sixth for this tax, which is why a rural house on a large plot often pays ¥20,000 to ¥80,000 a year in total.

City planning tax (都市計画税) is an extra up to 0.3 percent in designated urbanisation areas; most countryside akiya are outside them and pay nothing.

The one way to lose the residential reduction is to let the house decay. A property the municipality designates a specified vacant house (特定空家) loses the one-sixth treatment, so the land tax rises up to sixfold, and the town can order repairs or demolition. This is the single best financial argument for basic upkeep of an empty house.

Other annual items: insurance (above), the neighbourhood association fee (¥3,000 to ¥12,000 a year in most villages), and utility standing charges if you keep them connected.

Tax on rental income

If the house earns rent, Japan taxes that income whether or not you live in Japan.

• Residents add it to their other income at the progressive rates (5 to 45 percent national plus 10 percent local).
• Non-residents pay Japanese national income tax on Japanese-source rent only, at the same progressive rates plus the 2.1 percent reconstruction surtax, but not the 10 percent local tax. Expenses (management, repairs, insurance, depreciation, the property taxes) are deductible, and depreciation on an old building is generous.
• Withholding. A company tenant must withhold 20.42 percent of rent paid to a non-resident owner and remit it; you reclaim any excess on the return. An individual renting the house as their home does not withhold.
• Filing. A non-resident appoints a tax agent (納税管理人) in Japan, a person or firm who receives the notices, files the annual return by 15 March, and pays on your behalf.

Your home country may also tax the income; most have a treaty with Japan that credits what you paid here.

Tax when you sell

Capital gains on Japanese property are taxed in Japan at a flat rate that depends on how long you held it, counted to 1 January of the year of sale:

The gain is the price less what you paid, less purchase and sale costs, less renovation that counts as capital improvement, plus depreciation claimed. Owner-occupiers who lived in the house get a ¥30 million exemption. A buyer purchasing from a non-resident seller must withhold 10.21 percent of the price if it exceeds ¥100 million, which does not arise for akiya.

Inheritance and gifts

Property in Japan is subject to Japanese inheritance tax regardless of the owner's nationality or residence, above a basic exemption of ¥30 million plus ¥6 million per statutory heir. An akiya rarely gets near the threshold on its own. The heirs register the transfer at the Legal Affairs Bureau, and since 2024 registering an inherited property within three years is compulsory.

Financing as a foreigner

Japanese mortgages go to residents with Japanese income and, usually, permanent residency or a Japanese spouse. A handful of lenders offer non-resident loans, mostly for investment apartments in Tokyo, with large down payments and higher rates. For an akiya priced under ¥10 million a loan rarely makes sense even where available, and renovation loans are closed to non-residents.

In practice overseas akiya buyers pay cash, and the numbers allow it: more than 10,000 houses on Akiya Air are under ¥5 million. Buyers who do want leverage borrow at home against assets there, where the rate and the paperwork are familiar.

Paying in yen from abroad: the price, taxes and fees are all due in yen, into Japanese accounts. Use a specialist transfer service rather than a retail bank wire; on a ¥5 million purchase the difference in exchange margin is routinely ¥50,000 or more. Receiving banks may ask for the source of funds; it is a standard check and we prepare the documents in advance.

Visas: what owning property does and does not do

Owning a house gives no right to stay in Japan beyond the visa-free period for your passport, 90 days for most Western countries. There is no property-investor visa and no golden visa. Options people actually use:

• Repeated visa-free visits of up to 90 days, which suits a holiday home, with no limit on the number of visits within reason.
• The Business Manager visa, for people who establish and run a real business in Japan. Its conditions were tightened in 2025 (substantially higher capital, an employee, relevant experience) and a holiday rental on its own does not qualify.
• The digital nomad visa (six months, for remote workers earning over ¥10 million a year from abroad, from eligible countries).
• Work, spouse, student and long-stay visas on their usual terms.

Nor does owning property make you tax resident. Residence for tax follows where you live, not what you own.

What is different for a foreign owner, administratively

• A domestic contact address in Japan is registered with the title (required since April 2024). Akiya Air serves as this contact for clients.
• A tax agent in Japan handles the property tax bills and any income tax filing while you are abroad.
• Your signature certificate and affidavit of address, notarised at home or at a Japanese embassy, replace the Japanese seal and residence certificates at contract and settlement.
• Non-residents file a short post-purchase report to the Ministry of Finance through the Bank of Japan within 20 days; the scrivener handles it.

Frequently asked questions

We put every one of these numbers on paper before you make an offer. Book a free 20-minute call or browse houses for sale across Japan.