Recent data from January to June 2025 on Tokyo 23 Ward new condo acquisitions by owners with overseas addresses have provided some interesting insights. While many would assume that purchasers from China would be on top, in fact, as recently as 2019, China and Taiwan were nearly tied. Now in the aforementioned period last year, purchases by buyers with Taiwanese addresses accounted for 62% of new condominium purchases in Tokyo’s 23 wards by buyers with overseas addresses.
Meanwhile, China only accounted for 10%. When you combined the United States and United Kingdom, that was just another 9%.
According to MLIT data for January-June 2025, the share of new condominium purchases by overseas-address buyers was:
- Tokyo overall: 3.0%
- Tokyo 23 wards: 3.5%
- Central six wards: 7.5%
Among the central six wards:
- Shinjuku: 14.6%
- Shibuya: 8.1%
- Chiyoda: 7.7%
Outside the central six wards:
- Kita: 8.1%
- Arakawa: 7.7%
- Taito: 5.4%
Since 2018, Chiyoda and Shibuya have been the only wards where the share has consistently remained above 5%.
Outside Tokyo, the January-June 2025 figures were:
- Osaka City: 4.3%
- Kyoto City: 2.5%
Sapporo and Fukuoka were both around 2% and showing an increasing trend.
One potential factor behind the Taiwan trend is a possible desire among the Taiwanese to have a contingency plan. Japanese urban condominiums may be attractive as a way to move or diversify assets overseas, a relatively secure destination for capital, a property that can also be used during stays in Japan, or simply an investment with potential for future price appreciation.
While this data is quite interesting, it’s also important to understand its limits. It strictly analyzes purchases by owners with overseas addresses. It doesn’t account for foreigners living in Japan, foreign-owner businesses in Japan, or overseas users who bought used properties. We’ve talked about it before, but better tracking of property purchases by foreigners is something Japan has been seriously considering.
Since April 2024, overseas residents acquiring Japanese real estate have actually been required to provide a domestic contact in Japan. However, if the buyer has no domestic contact, they can submit a statement saying so and still complete the registration. So, ultimately, that requirement is essentially meaningless, and around one-third of units acquired by overseas-address buyers after April 2024 were registered with no domestic contact. A new “domestic administrator system” may help, but only time will tell.
There are two main factors at play here. The first is that Japan’s current tracking of purchases by foreigners (or just those living overseas) is still lacking. The second is that Japan is likely to expand its tracking, but it remains to be seen what concrete action, if any, they will take. And if you want to be the first to hear about any relevant updates and are not already subscribed to our free newsletter, you can do so here.
Source: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/7df18324981365977df3bdf2c280a01479f39311?page=1