Tokyo homebuyers turn further to existing condos as new build prices soar

On December 27th, the Nikkei Shimbun reported that the average asking price of existing condominiums aged between 20 and 25 years in Tokyo’s 23 wards reached an average of ¥102.01 million in 2025, calculated on a 70-square-meter basis according to real estate information provider LIFULL.

Photo by Jaison Lin on Unsplash

The surge in housing prices is increasingly being viewed as a social issue, with the term “Oku-sion”, a portmanteau of the words “Oku”, meaning 100 million yen and “Mansion”, the Japanese term for strata-title condos, entering the Japanese lexicon.

The data covers existing condominiums listed on the housing information site LIFULL HOME’S by November 2025, excluding units smaller than 30 square meters. Prices were converted to a standard size of 70 square meters and analyzed by construction age in five-year increments.

Average prices exceeded ¥100 million for properties aged 20 to 25 years. Condominiums aged 10 to 15 years averaged ¥134.6 million - more than double the ¥61.85 million average for 20-year-old properties.

One factor behind the rise in existing condominium prices is the sharp increase in new-build prices. According to LIFULL, the average price of newly built condominiums in Tokyo’s 23 wards from January to May stood at ¥144.02 million. Many new units are priced above ¥200 million, with Minato Ward recording an average price of ¥350.8 million.

Toshiro Nakayama, chief analyst at LIFULL HOME’S Research Institute, notes that “new condominiums in Tokyo’s 23 wards have been sold at average prices exceeding ¥100 million for more than three years. Buyers have increasingly shifted their focus to existing properties, which are even marginally more affordable.”

An increase in short-term resales, or “flipping,” of newly purchased condominiums is also pushing up existing prices. A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism survey found that 9.3% of newly built condominiums in Tokyo’s 23 wards were resold within one year of purchase between January and June 2024. In the six central wards of Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku, Bunkyo, and Shibuya - areas with a high concentration of luxury properties - the figure rose to 12.2%.

Yano Research Institute forecasts that Japan’s resale housing market, including detached homes, will reach 62,700 transactions on a contract basis in 2025, an 18.8% increase from the previous year. By 2030, the market is expected to expand to around 75,000 units. The ability to move into older homes that have been renovated to near-new standards is driving their popularity.

Nakayama adds that “purchasing a home in Tokyo has become extremely difficult under current conditions. Buyers need to consider renovated properties as part of a broad range of options.”

Source:

Nikkei Shimbun (Japanese only; paywalled)