While the UK is cramming in new build homes to feed an ever hungry market of people, Japan has the opposite problem.
The country has an ageing population, with a median age of 49.4 and a record low birth rate of 1.22% – meaning more people are dying than being born. This, and a lack of education or employment opportunities for people living in rural communities, has led to increased migration into cities, and left over eight million homes standing empty across Japan, according to official figures.
Empty homes are known as “Akiya” and in some parts of Japan have been abandoned at a rate of 13.6% in the last five years. These properties attract tax relief while they still stand. Traditional beliefs also hold that the houses are still inhabited by the ancestors.
To boost the economy, the government has offered financial incentives to live in older empty homes and invested heavily to built new, more expensive properties in the country’s cities.
Akiya are likely to remain an ongoing issue as population demographics continue to evolve, but there is surprising interest in the properties from a different perspective.
Swedish TikTok star and model, Anton Wormann, moved to Japan in 2018, has turned the problem into an opportunity, and says he makes several thousand pounds a month from buying the abandoned homes. The properties are renovated in a modern Swedish/Japanese style, then let out on a short-term rental in tourist hotspots.
The property belonged to his neighbour in Tokyo and, having been abandoned for around ten years. The 80-plus year old, three bedroom property is now available on AirBnB for £1,261 for a minimum of three nights. The property brings in around £11,000 every month and he now owns eight Akaya.
Some Akaya are available for as little as £7,000, or even free in some places, but Anton’s first purchase cost him £40,000. Investors should be aware that Akiyas do not come without a risk.
Other TikTok users have begun to notice Japan and its cheap property prices. However, the trend of foreigners buying up Akaya to live in themselves, or to attract tourists, has not tempted local buyers back to rural areas, and they are more likely to seek a city new build.