New Condo Registry Survey: Short-Term Sales and Overseas Buyers
Overview
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism investigated short-term sales of newly built condominiums—sales within one year of purchase—and acquisitions by people with addresses outside Japan in the three major metropolitan areas and four regional cities. Analysis of registry and other information from January 2018 through December 2025 found that short-term sales were high or increasing in some areas, mainly Tokyo, while acquisitions by people with addresses outside Japan were high or increasing mainly in Tokyo and parts of Osaka and Kyoto. Overall, there was no major change in trends compared with the previously published figures. Used condominiums, people inferred from their names to be foreign nationals, and high-priced properties were also analyzed.
Key points
- Short-term sales were high or increasing in some areas, mainly Tokyo.
- Acquisitions of newly built condominiums by people with addresses outside Japan were high or increasing in Tokyo and elsewhere.
- Short-term sales by people with addresses outside Japan have recently increased in Tokyo's 23 wards, but decreased compared with the previously published figures.
- In Tokyo's 23 wards, the short-term sales ratio from January through December 2024 was 9.0% for large-scale condominiums and 2.9% for other condominiums.
Overview
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism investigated newly built condominiums in the three major metropolitan areas and four regional cities to understand recent condominium transaction conditions.
The previous survey was expanded with information through December 2025 to provide a full-year analysis, and some additional analysis was conducted on used condominiums and people inferred from their names to be foreign nationals.
Details
Using real estate registry information received from the Ministry of Justice and private-sector price data, the analysis covered approximately 570,000 newly built condominium units registered in the three major metropolitan areas and four regional cities, along with approximately 1.5 million transfer registrations in the same period and areas. The covered data consisted of application information for preservation and transfer registrations whose registration cause was a sale or purchase.
Short-term sales had high ratios in some areas of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, and Hyogo, with higher or increasing trends toward the central areas. Among properties with exclusive floor areas of at least 40 square meters in Tokyo's 23 wards, the recent short-term sales ratio for large-scale condominiums was higher than for other condominiums, and the figure rose substantially. In 2024, short-term sales of large-scale condominiums supplied particularly during the first half of the year, from January through June, pushed up the overall figure, but both the number and ratio of short-term sales declined in the second half, from July through December.
Acquisitions of newly built condominiums by people with addresses outside Japan had high ratios in some areas of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, with higher or increasing trends toward the central areas. No particularly recent increase was observed in acquisitions of used condominiums, nor was there a particularly notable tendency in the central six wards to actively purchase high-priced properties worth 200 million yen or more. The acquisition ratio for people inferred from their names to be foreign nationals declined from the previous year.