Japan’s MLIT survey finds most akiya properties inherited and in poor condition
- Adam German
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
On August 29th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) released the findings of the “2024 Survey on Akiya House Owners” - the 10th of its kind conducted roughly every five years.
Akiya is Japanese for vacant homes with the nuance being, usually but not always, that the property is abandoned as opposed to simply being empty.
This is mainly due to Japan’s rapidly aging population, especially outside of urban areas.
Example akiya property. While most are abandoned similar to the above, others can be livable with minimal investment. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
The survey, carried out between late November and December 2024, targeted 13,268 households that reported owning akiya properties as of October 1, 2023, according to the MLIT’s “2023 Housing and Land Statistics” report.
Valid responses were obtained from 6,294 households.
Key findings included:
Approximately 60% of akiya properties were inherited, with over 70% of those constructed before 1980.
Among all akiya properties surveyed, more than 70% exhibited signs of decay or damage.
In about 60% of cases, the house became abandonded following the owner’s death.
Only 23% of households had taken preparatory measures before the inherited property became abandoned. Among those,
16.7% engaged in discussions with the previous owner,
1.8% drew up a will,
and 1.3% utilized mechanisms like guardianship or family trusts.
Looking ahead five years,
The most common intention, at 31.7% of respondents, was to keep the property vacant, primarily due to “needing it as storage” (55.8%) or “not wanting to bear demolition costs” (47.3%).
19.5% planned to sell, and 19.1% considered using it as a holiday home or second residence.
Major obstacles cited in selling or renting vacant houses included:
Property deterioration (43.3%),
Lack of buyers or tenants (40.3%),
Disposal of household items (37.4%).
Further Reading:
MLIT 2024 Survey on Akiya House Owners Results (Japanese only)
Source:
R.E. Port News (Japanese only)
