Custom Homes Now Average 76 Million Yen: Japan's Housing Survey Reveals What Buyers Really PayA · FULL TRANSLATION

Japan's land ministry has published its official answer to what people actually pay for housing: the FY2025 Housing Market Trends Survey shows custom-built homes averaging 76.46 million yen, the highest of any category, with new condominiums at 64.43 million yen. Three findings stand out. First, prices hurt enough that buyers say so — in a newly added question, custom-home owners' most common complaint was that the price exceeded their budget, official confirmation of relentless construction-cost inflation. Second, Japan's renovation tax credit is dramatically underused: among households that renovated after buying a used home, only 14.7% (detached) and 12.2% (condo) applied or planned to apply, and just 4.3% of all renovating households did. Nearly nine in ten renovators leave government money on the table — an information gap that foreign buyers pursuing the popular buy-used-and-renovate strategy can exploit. Third, energy-saving equipment — double glazing, solar panels, batteries, EV chargers — is now concentrated in new custom builds, widening the performance and price gap between new and used stock. With new-build prices climbing, the used-plus-renovation route remains Japan's value play. Watch mortgage rates and the 2027 energy-standard tightening. Details per the original MLIT report.