In this article, we take a look at how satisfied people (specifically foreigners!) are with their housing situation in Japan and what in particular they would like to change about their current home.
The key takeaway from the data we’ll look at below is that the overwhelming majority (87.3%) of foreigners living in rental housing in Japan are at least moderately satisfied with their current residence. At the same time, people were very clear and detailed about what they didn’t like about their apartment.
Our data set comes from a survey conducted earlier this year by Real Estate Japan to learn what foreigners want in their ideal living situation here, especially with respect to the location, features, and amenities they would like in a Japanese apartment. The survey was conducted online in English. We received over 470 valid responses from users currently living in Japan and those thinking of moving or buying property here.
Below we present only a portion of the survey results. Specifically, these responses were received from 212 people currently living in a rental apartment in Japan.
Let’s see how they felt about their living situation here!
How satisfied are you with your current residence?
Respondents to this question were overwhelmingly satisfied with their current rental apartment. A full quarter of people said they were “very satisfied,” with their housing, while about a third were at least “moderately satisfied.” A total of 87.3% of people indicated that they were “moderately satisfied,” “satisfied,” or “very satisfied” with their home.
What is your approximate monthly rent?
The largest group (30.2%) of people reported that they pay between ¥50,000 and ¥69,000 a month in rent. The second largest group (27.4%) pay between ¥70,000 and ¥99,000 a month, and the third largest group (20.3%) pay less than ¥50,000 a month. This means the large majority (77.9%) of people pay less than ¥100,000 (907USD) a month in rent.
How does monthly rent correlate with satisfaction with living situation?
Higher monthly rent generally correlates to how satisfied people were with their apartment.
People renting at the <¥50,000 level and lower reported the least amount of satisfaction as a whole.
People renting at the ¥150,000 to ¥199,000 a month level were as a whole less satisfied with their housing than people in the ¥70,000 to ¥149,000 bracket.
Finally, though they represented just 2.4% of respondents, people renting at the ¥200,000 and above level all said they were at least moderately satisfied with their housing.
The following percentages show the percentage of people who said that they were “moderately satisfied,” “satisfied,” or “very satisfied with their current residence, broken down by monthly rent.
- Monthly rent <¥50,000: 60.5%
- Monthly rent ¥50,000 to ¥69,000: 79.7%
- Monthly rent ¥70,000 to ¥99,000: 94.1%
- Monthly rent ¥100,000 to ¥149,000: 94.1%
- Monthly rent ¥150,000 to ¥199,000: 85.7%
- Monthly rent ¥200,000 and above: 100%
What do people want to change about their current residence?
We asked people (who were currently living in rental housing in Japan), “What would you change about your current residence?” and they weren’t shy in their answers to this free text field. We really appreciate everyone who shared their opinion on this!
The answers below are tabulated from free text responses, so multiple responses were possible.
The Top 5 things people wanted to change about their apartment were:
- More space, more rooms and bigger rooms (16.15%)
- Better insulation, heating and air conditioning (6.77%)
- The layout of rooms and/or the shape of rooms (6.25%)
- The kitchen size, amenities and appliances in the kitchen, and having the kitchen separated from the living room (5.21%)
- The bathroom size, age of bathroom, separate bath and toilet, need for a vanity in the bathroom and/or sufficient hot water (5.21%)
- 2.6% of people said that they wouldn’t change anything about their apartment.
Please see the charts below to see what other things people want to change about their home in Japan.
You may also be interested in: Where are the most popular places for foreigners to live in Japan?
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