Akiya Bank in Japan: How Vacant House Banks Work

What an akiya bank actually is (and what it is not)

An akiya bank (akiya bank, vacant house bank) is a listing register kept by a Japanese municipal government. The town collects the empty houses that owners report to it, publishes them on its own site or on the national portal, and introduces buyer and seller. It does not set the price, does not guarantee the condition of the building and, in almost every case, does not draft the contract.

The scheme was never designed for foreign investors. It answers a depopulation problem: a town that loses residents loses its tax base, its school and its shops. The stated goal is ijū teijū (移住定住, permanent relocation of new residents). Every surprising condition covered further down flows from that single objective.

Four things an akiya bank is not

• Not a real estate agency. The town takes no commission and does not sign the sale. It refers you to a partner agent, usually a member of the prefectural professional association takken kyōkai (宅建協会), who bills separately.
• Not a complete catalogue. Owners approach the town hall once agencies have declined the property, almost always because it is too cheap or too remote to justify a normal commission.
• Not a multilingual service. Forms, listings and correspondence are in Japanese. A Japanese postal address and phone number are frequently requested at registration.
• Not a quality guarantee. No municipality inspects the structure before publishing. The listing repeats what the owner declared, with no verification of floor area, build year or road access compliance.

The national portal and the town-level registers

Since April 2018 the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (Kokudo Kōtsū-shō, MLIT) has had these registers aggregated by two private operators selected through a public tender, LIFULL and At Home. On 15 August 2026 the LIFULL portal showed 786 participating municipalities and 8,393 properties. Yet MLIT's own survey of local authorities counted 1,261 towns operating an akiya bank, roughly seven in ten: many publish only on their own website, sometimes as a single page or a PDF refreshed twice a year. Searching the national portal alone therefore misses a good half of the system.

Criterion	Municipal akiya bank	Japanese agency	Specialist platform
Who publishes	The town hall, from owner declarations	The mandated agency	Aggregated agency sources
Volume	A handful to a few dozen per town	The whole local market	Filtered national selection
Language	Japanese only	Japanese, sometimes English	English and French
Prior registration	Required before any viewing	None	None
Use restrictions	Common (relocation intent, no commercial use)	None beyond zoning	None
Commission	Nothing to the town, partner agent billed on top	Statutory scale	Depends on the model
Target buyer	Future resident	Any buyer	Foreign buyer

Our own catalogue sits in the third column: more than 5,000 real Japanese properties, translated and scored, in our akiya and Japanese house listings. For the purchase process itself, which is identical whatever the channel, our complete guide to buying an akiya in Japan walks through every step.

For the national picture behind these registries, see how many abandoned houses Japan actually has, and which prefectures hold them.

The number that puts vacant house banks in perspective

Japan's 2023 Housing and Land Survey (Sōmushō, Statistics Bureau) counts 9 million vacant dwellings, a record vacancy rate of 13.8%. Strip out units currently being marketed for rent or sale and secondary homes, and 3.85 million houses sit durably unoccupied. Those are the real akiya: ageing with no occupant and no plan.

Set that against the 8,393 listings on the national portal. Even doubling the figure to allow for stand-alone municipal registers, akiya banks expose something like 0.5% of the stock. That is not a communication failure, it is the nature of the scheme.

Why so few properties, and which ones

• Owners try the normal channel first. A well-located house sells through an agency at a market price. The town hall inherits what the market turned down.
• The selection bias is geographic. Many akiya bank listings describe houses a 25-minute drive from the nearest station, in villages with no shop. The low price is the consequence, not the bargain.
• Inheritance blocks the rest. Millions of empty houses belong to several co-heirs who agree on nothing: they reach neither the market, nor the municipal register, nor the wrecking crew.

The practical conclusion is not to ignore akiya banks, but never to treat them as a single source. A serious buyer cross-checks the municipal register, local agencies and platforms, and applies the same filter everywhere: distance to a served station and the presence of shops, the one criterion that has survived every file we have handled, as covered in our article on buying in the Japanese countryside.

Municipal banks are only one of the four circuits carrying Japanese listings: the full picture, consumer portals and the professional REINS database included, is in our guide to Japanese real estate websites.

Register, view, buy: the six real steps

The path is standardised from one town to the next, with minor variations. What surprises most buyers is the starting point: you cannot view a property before you are registered.

1. Pick the town, not the house

Choose a territory first (rail access, hospital, school, tourism), then look at what its bank holds. Doing it the other way round means falling for an isolated house and rationalising its location afterwards.

2. File a user registration

This is the riyō tōroku (利用登録, service user registration). It is free and usually requires a signed form, identification and a statement of intent. Some towns explicitly require an intention to settle, others an interview first.

3. Ask the town hall to arrange the viewing

The town contacts the owner and sets the appointment. The viewing is almost always mandatory before any negotiation: municipalities use it to prevent later disputes about the state of the property. If you are overseas, plan the trip around it, or read our method for viewing a Japanese property remotely.

4. Negotiate through the partner agent

Negotiation and contract go through an agent holding the takken (宅建, real estate transaction) licence, appointed by the town or by the prefectural association. A few municipalities still allow direct private sales: that is the riskiest configuration, because nobody is then legally required to hand you the statutory disclosure document.

5. Receive the explanation of important matters

Before signing, the agent must read you the jūyō jikō setsumei (jūyō jikō setsumei, explanation of important matters): easements, access, zoning, natural hazards, rebuild restrictions. Our article on the explanation of important matters reads it line by line. It is the single most useful document in the file, and it only exists when a licensed professional is involved.

6. Sign and register the transfer

A shihō shoshi (shihō shoshi, judicial scrivener) registers the transfer of ownership. As a non-resident you will replace the registered seal with a signature certificate issued by your consulate: the detail is in our articles on the hanko seal in a Japanese property purchase and on the role of the shihō shoshi.

Allow three to six months from first contact to handover, much of it spent on administrative back and forth. Town halls do not work at agency speed: a reply in ten working days is normal.

What an akiya bank house really costs

The asking price is the smallest line in the budget. Since the brokerage fee reform that took effect on 1 July 2024, an agent may charge up to 330,000 yen including tax (2,040 euros) on properties selling for 8,000,000 yen (49,400 euros) or less, against 198,000 yen previously and only below 4,000,000 yen. The change was made precisely so that professionals would agree to handle small akiya files at all.

Worked example: a house listed at 2,500,000 yen

Item	Amount in yen	Equivalent	Note
Purchase price	2,500,000	15,400 euros	Negotiated price listed with the town
Partner agent fee	330,000	2,040 euros	Statutory cap below 8,000,000 yen
Registration tax	30,000 to 40,000	190 to 250 euros	Based on assessed value, never on the price paid
Acquisition tax	0 to 45,000	0 to 280 euros	Nil when the assessment falls under the exemption threshold
Judicial scrivener	60,000 to 100,000	370 to 620 euros	Transfer of title at the land registry
Contract stamp duty	1,000	6 euros	Reduced scale in force
Total at signing	2,921,000 to 3,016,000	18,000 to 18,600 euros	Renovation excluded

On a conventional purchase, closing costs stay at a maximum of 6% of the price, as broken down in our article on closing costs when buying property in Japan. On a very cheap akiya that ratio stops meaning anything: the commission is capped in value, not as a percentage, so think in absolute yen. A 500,000 yen house will not cost 30,000 yen in fees, it will cost roughly the same as a 2,500,000 yen one.

Two lines buyers forget

• Renovation. Bringing a rural house back to habitable standard usually takes 3,000,000 to 15,000,000 yen (18,500 to 92,600 euros) depending on roof, drainage and insulation. The line-by-line breakdown is in our article on machiya and kominka renovation costs.
• Annual running costs. Property tax, city planning tax, insurance, grounds maintenance. They are modest on these properties, but they start on the day you sign, not on the day you move in. See our article on property tax in Japan.

To test your own scenario, the immoJapon yield and budget simulator uses exactly these parameters.

The conditions nobody reads: residency, use, resale

This is where most foreign projects stop, usually after falling in love with a house. Akiya banks are population policy instruments: they filter.

Intent to settle

Many rulebooks restrict registration to current residents and to people planning to move in. One Niigata town states it plainly in its FAQ: prior residence is not required, but the intention to settle is. In practice, a buyer who announces a plan to rent the house out from abroad is often refused at the registration stage.

Commercial use excluded

Restaurants, offices, company housing and tourist operations are explicitly ruled out by many municipal regulations. In practice that also covers short-term rental: never assume a minpaku (minpaku, private lodging) operation is possible before you have the town's written position, on top of the national procedure described in our article on the minpaku licence and the 180-night cap.

Holding periods

Where a subsidy comes with the purchase, it almost always comes with a five to ten year occupancy commitment. An early resale triggers pro rata repayment. That clause is not a detail: it is what makes a subsidised akiya illiquid.

What about nationality?

No Japanese law prevents a foreigner from buying property, akiya banks included, and ownership is full and perpetual. Two limits remain true, though: buying grants no right of residence (our article on buying a house in Japan without a visa covers this), and Japanese mortgages remain reserved for residents employed in Japan. A purchase from abroad is therefore a cash purchase.

Grants: what you can claim, and what you cannot

Subsidies drive much of the appeal of akiya banks, and much of the confusion. They are municipal, paid after the works and against invoices, and nearly all conditional on entry in the town's resident register, the jūminhyō (住民票). Without a visa and an actual move, most are out of reach.

Grant	Typical amount	Decisive condition	Available without living in Japan?
Municipal renovation subsidy	500,000 to 2,000,000 yen (3,090 to 12,350 euros)	Property listed with the town, local contractor, entry in the resident register	No
National relocation grant	1,000,000 yen per household (6,170 euros), 600,000 for a single applicant, plus 1,000,000 per child under 18	Five years living in or commuting to Tokyo's 23 wards, including the year before the move, plus qualifying work or business	No
Demolition subsidy	Variable, often half the quote up to a municipal ceiling	Building assessed as dangerous	Depends on the town
Young household or family bonus	100,000 to 1,000,000 yen (620 to 6,170 euros)	Age, household composition, holding period	No

The national relocation grant is the one that circulates most in English-language articles, often presented as a welcome cheque for foreign buyers. It is not: its central test is five years spent in the Tokyo area. A buyer arriving from Europe is mechanically ineligible.

Expert tip

Ask the town for the written list of grants before signing, and pin down three points: when entitlement opens, which expenses qualify, and whether the work must be carried out by a locally registered contractor. That last clause is widespread and rules out bringing in a craftsman from another prefecture, which can cost more than the subsidy is worth.

Legal traps specific to municipal register properties

These houses carry a particular risk profile, tied to how they reach the register: long vacant, usually inherited, rarely surveyed.

Title and inheritance

Since 1 April 2024, registering an inheritance at the land registry is compulsory within three years, on pain of an administrative fine of up to 100,000 yen (620 euros). The rule also applies to inheritances opened before that date, with a deadline of 31 March 2027. That is excellent news for buyers: titles are being cleaned up. Check the register before making an offer all the same, as explained in our articles on the tōki bo land registry and on inheritance tax on Japanese property.

Farmland attached to the house

In rural areas, roughly one listing in three includes an agricultural plot. Transferring it falls under article 3 of the Farmland Act and requires the local agricultural committee's approval. The minimum acreage requirement was abolished on 1 April 2023, which greatly simplified small files, but the permission itself remains mandatory and assumes a commitment to farm. A refusal can sink the whole sale where house and field form one lot.

The house that can never be rebuilt

Land that does not front a public road at least 4 metres wide over at least 2 metres is classified as non-rebuildable. You may renovate, never rebuild. The status is common in old hamlets and cuts resale value. It must appear in the explanation of important matters, one more reason to insist on a licensed professional.

Sold as is

These contracts almost always waive the seller's conformity liability. You buy the termites, the frame and the drainage with no recourse. Our articles on hidden defects in a Japanese purchase and on the 1981 seismic standard explain what to have checked before you offer.

The trap you become yourself

Under the reformed vacant housing act, in force since 13 December 2023, a municipality can classify a property as poorly managed and issue a formal recommendation to the owner. From that point the land loses the residential assessment break, and the property tax bill can rise up to sixfold. In other words: an akiya bought and then left empty for years exposes you to exactly the penalty that pushed the seller to sell. An occupancy or management plan is not a luxury, it is tax protection.

Akiya bank or agency: how to choose for your project

There is no good or bad channel, only a fit between channel and project. Here is the grid we apply to our own files.

Your project	Best channel	Why
You get a visa and move to the countryside full time	Akiya bank	Low prices, grants within reach, town hall support, local network
You buy a holiday home from abroad	Agency or platform	No relocation requirement, no use restrictions
You are targeting short-term rental	Agency or platform	Commercial use is often excluded by municipal rules
You want long-term rental yield	Agency or platform	Municipal register properties are rarely in a rental demand zone
You want a traditional house to restore	Both	Municipal registers do surface fine kominka, but with zero screening

The combination that works

The most effective method is to use the municipal register as radar and an agency as the striking arm: the town's file tells you which municipalities are moving and at what price level, the local agent brings out the properties the town will never see. That is what we do for our clients, and what we document in our case studies of real Japanese purchases.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Translating a listing and offering without a viewing. The viewing is mandatory before negotiation anyway, and it is your only chance to see the frame.
• Emailing the town hall in English. Response rates collapse. A short message in Japanese, with a clear project and a visit date, changes everything.
• Confusing a grant with a discount. Grants arrive after the works are paid for, sometimes a year later. Your cash plan must hold without them.
• Ignoring drainage. An individual septic system at end of life often means 800,000 to 1,500,000 yen (4,940 to 9,260 euros), a line absent from every listing.
• Thinking in percentages on small sums. On a 1,000,000 yen house, fixed costs weigh proportionally far more than on a conventional purchase.

In short: who akiya banks really serve

An akiya bank is an excellent tool for someone who will genuinely live in the town, with a visa, time and a working level of Japanese. Prices are low, the town hall helps, grants exist, and neighbours generally welcome a newcomer who brings a house back to life.

For a foreign buyer who stays based in Europe or North America, it is usually the wrong door: registration tied to a relocation plan, commercial use excluded, grants out of reach, correspondence in Japanese only, and a pool representing something like 0.5% of the country's empty houses. The other 99.5% move through the normal market, where nothing is closed to you.

So work in sequence: pick a territory, use its municipal register to read the local price level, then buy through the channel that matches your status. Our guide to buying property in Japan covers the full path, and if you want to test your plan against a real case before committing, the first written contact, with no commitment exists for exactly that.

Frequently asked questions

Do akiya banks really sell houses for 1 yen?

Such listings exist but are rare, and the symbolic price mainly transfers liabilities: renovation, taxes, upkeep and sometimes demolition. The real budget for a one-yen house runs into millions of yen. Our article on the 1-yen akiya works through the maths.

Can a foreigner buy through an akiya bank?

In principle yes: Japanese law sets no nationality condition on property ownership, and title is full and perpetual. In practice the town's own rules may require relocation intent, a contact in Japan and correspondence in Japanese.

Do you need to live in Japan already to register?

Rarely as a formal rule, but most towns reserve the service for people planning to settle. A buy-to-let plan run from abroad is often refused at registration, before you have seen a single property.

Are there agency fees on an akiya bank purchase?

The town takes nothing, but the partner agent who drafts the contract bills their fee. Since 1 July 2024 that fee can reach 330,000 yen including tax (2,040 euros) on a property selling for 8,000,000 yen (49,400 euros) or less.

Can you run a short-term rental in an akiya bank house?

Often not. Many municipal rules exclude commercial use, and the town can refuse to register a tourism project. On top of that sits the national lodging regulation, with its 180-night annual cap under the most common regime.

How long does an akiya bank purchase take?

Allow three to six months from first contact to handover: registration, viewing coordinated by the town hall, negotiation through the partner agent, then registration of the transfer at the land registry.

Can you finance an akiya with a mortgage?

Not from abroad: Japanese mortgages are reserved for residents employed in Japan, and banks generally decline old, low-value properties. An akiya bank purchase is a cash purchase.

Are renovation grants paid to non-residents?

In almost all cases no. They require entry in the town's resident register, meaning a visa and an actual move, and they are paid after the works against invoices.