The average new condominium in Tokyo's 23 central wards reached a record ¥137.84 million in fiscal 2025, up 18.5 percent year over year and a third straight year above the ¥100 million mark.
Foreigners can own both land and buildings in Japan with essentially the same rights as Japanese citizens, and ownership is fully separate from residency or visa status.
Overseas buyers accounted for 3.5 percent of newly built condominiums in Tokyo's 23 wards in the first half of 2025, more than double the 1.6 percent recorded across all of 2024.
A yen trading near ¥150 to the dollar gives dollar-based buyers roughly a 20 to 30 percent currency advantage compared with five years ago.
Tokyo has become one of the most closely watched luxury property markets in the world, and the buyers driving that attention increasingly arrive from outside Japan. The average new condominium in the city's 23 central wards reached a record ¥137.84 million in fiscal 2025, an 18.5 percent rise over the prior year and the third consecutive year above the ¥100 million threshold, according to figures reported by The Japan Times. The logic for a globally mobile buyer is direct: a soft yen, full ownership rights for foreigners, and prime addresses that still trade well below comparable space in London, New York, or Hong Kong. For affluent travelers who already know the city through its hotels and tasting menus, the question has shifted from where to stay to whether to own.
Tokyo's appeal begins with value that the headline numbers can obscure. Prime residential space in central neighborhoods such as Minato, Shibuya, and Chiyoda commonly clears roughly $9,000 per square meter, with high-end towers in Roppongi reaching close to ¥1.44 million per square meter. Set that against Hong Kong, where prime values approach $36,700 per square meter, or the ultra-luxury tiers of London and New York at $20,000 to $50,000, and Tokyo reads as the most underpriced major capital relative to its scale, infrastructure, and livability.
The discount is narrowing. Condominium prices across the 23 wards have climbed about 64 percent since 2021, and Minato Ward alone now averages roughly ¥640 million per new unit. Prime rents rose 7.8 percent in the first half of 2025 and 13.5 percent year over year, a signal that the demand behind the price growth is grounded in people who actually want to live in these buildings, not only in speculation.
Context explains why the value gap exists at all. Tokyo spent decades working through the long hangover of its 1980s asset bubble, and prices only began appreciating in earnest after 2013. The result is a world capital whose prime real estate is being repriced upward from an unusually low base, rather than one stretching an already inflated market. For buyers accustomed to the math of London or Manhattan, that combination of scale, safety, and relative affordability is difficult to find elsewhere among the major global cities.
Japan is unusually open to international ownership, which is much of why the market has stayed accessible as prices have risen. Foreigners can purchase both the land and the building with essentially the same legal rights as Japanese nationals. There is no nationality-based restriction, no foreign-ownership quota, no minimum investment, and no surtax aimed specifically at non-resident buyers. Property rights do not expire and pass freely through sale or inheritance.
One distinction matters for readers who split their time across countries: ownership and immigration are separate matters. Buying a home in Tokyo confers no visa or residency status, and it requires none. The one new administrative step worth noting arrives in April 2026, when non-resident buyers must file a statistical notice, known as Form 22, with the Bank of Japan within 20 days of acquisition. A licensed agent or judicial scrivener can submit it, and it does not block the purchase.
The demand concentrates in a few clear directions. The most active segment is new-build towers in central wards that operate with concierge service, hotel-grade security, and amenities calibrated to residents who travel constantly. Buyers from Greater China have become the dominant force in the penthouse tier, frequently purchasing in the ¥300 million to ¥500 million range in cash rather than financing.
A second group wants design-led homes in neighborhoods that pair culture and dining with easy access to business districts and the city's best hotels. A third looks beyond the capital entirely, toward second homes in resort regions such as Niseko in Hokkaido, where international development has matured around world-ranked skiing, or quieter retreats that trade proximity for privacy and nature.
Several forces are converging at once. Roughly ¥1 trillion in foreign capital flowed into Japanese real estate in the first half of 2025, and overseas buyers now account for about a quarter of all large transactions above ¥1 billion. In the new-condo market specifically, the overseas share of 23-ward purchases more than doubled to 3.5 percent in the first half of 2025.
Currency is the accelerant. The yen has hovered near ¥150 to the dollar, against roughly ¥110 in 2019, handing dollar and euro buyers a substantial discount in their home currencies. The Bank of Japan has raised its policy rate to a multi-decade high, yet borrowing costs remain low by global standards, and the yen has stayed soft even as rates rose. Layer on a record 42.7 million inbound visitors in 2025 and ¥9.5 trillion in tourist spending, and the path from repeat visitor to property owner becomes a short one.
Supply is the constraint that keeps the pressure on. Rising construction costs and a shortage of new high-rise inventory in the most desirable wards have concentrated demand into a limited pool of trophy buildings, which is where most of the price growth has come from. For sellers, that scarcity supports values. For buyers, it raises the premium on acting early and working with representation that can surface listings before they reach the open market.
The transaction is more straightforward than its reputation suggests, and it typically runs two to three months from offer to registration. The sequence looks like this:
Shortlist and offer. Work with a licensed agent to identify properties and submit an offer.
Contract and deposit. Sign the sales and purchase agreement, the baibai keiyaku-sho, and pay an earnest deposit of 5 to 10 percent, credited toward the price.
Due diligence. Verify title and confirm the building's particulars before settlement.
Settlement. Pay the balance, generally at the bank on completion day.
Registration. A judicial scrivener, or shihoshoshi, registers ownership at the Legal Affairs Bureau.
Closing costs generally run 5 to 6 percent of the price, plus 1 to 2 percent in bank fees if a mortgage is used. Financing is where residency reasserts itself. Resident buyers can often borrow 70 to 80 percent of value, while non-residents abroad usually work with a small set of specialist lenders at 50 to 70 percent loan-to-value and higher rates. Non-residents will also need a notarized power of attorney, consular authentication of documents, and a designated domestic tax agent. For many international buyers at the top of the market, paying cash sidesteps the financing question entirely.
Readers who want a detailed, step-by-step walkthrough, including the documentation and financing specifics, can consult E-Housing's English-language guide on how to buy house in tokyo. The Tokyo-based agency specializes in helping foreign buyers navigate the search, legal, and financing process in English.
Ownership and residency are separate in Japan. Buying a home confers no visa, and requires none.
Tokyo anchors the story, but the international appetite extends across the country. Kyoto's cultural pull has made it a magnet for second-home interest even as the city raises accommodation taxes to manage record visitor volumes. Niseko continues to draw winter-sport buyers and the hospitality investment that follows them. The throughline is consistency: a transparent legal framework, a stable currency story for now, and a quality of construction, including earthquake-resistant engineering, that gives long-term owners confidence. For the globally mobile buyer, Japan has quietly moved from a place to visit to a place to hold.
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