Nearly Half of Japan's New Detached Homes Now Certified Long-Life Quality HousingA · FULL TRANSLATION
- MLIT: design-stage performance evaluation certificates hit a record 289,267 units in FY2025
- Issuance ratio reached 40.7% of housing starts, rising for a tenth straight year
- 49.8% of newly built detached houses obtained Long-Life Quality Housing certification
- Total new-build certifications of 165,271 units covered 23.2% of all housing starts
- Certification now drives tax breaks, insurance discounts and resale value in Japan
Two MLIT releases show Japan's housing quality visibility reaching a tipping point. Design-stage performance evaluation certificates hit a record 289,267 units in fiscal 2025—40.7% of housing starts, a ratio up ten years running—while 49.8% of new detached houses earned Long-Life Quality Housing certification, nearly one in two.
The incentives explain the climb: certified homes qualify for expanded mortgage tax deductions, registration and acquisition tax relief, and earthquake insurance discounts, and since April 2025 all new homes must meet energy-efficiency standards, making certification an easy upsell. One statistical caveat: part of the ratio gain comes from a shrinking denominator, as Japan's housing starts keep declining.
For foreign buyers, treat these certificates as a standard checklist item—they affect financing, insurance and resale. Note the sharp divide ahead: certified post-2010s stock versus older uncertified homes may see widening price gaps. Existing-home certification remains nearly nonexistent (139 units), so due diligence on secondhand properties is still essential. Watch whether the ratio breaks 50% in the first full year under mandatory energy standards.
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) announced on July 17 that design-stage housing performance evaluation certificates issued in fiscal 2025 hit 289,267 units, up 3.7% year on year and the highest since the system began in fiscal 2001. The issuance ratio against new housing starts (711,171 units) reached 40.7%, rising for the tenth consecutive year. Construction-stage certificates for new homes totaled 198,584 units (up 3.9%), while certificates for existing homes numbered just 139 (down 19.2%).
A companion release on the Long-Life Quality Housing certification showed 155,838 newly built detached houses certified in fiscal 2025—49.8% of detached housing starts, up sharply from 39.3% a year earlier. Including condominiums, new-build certifications totaled 165,271 units, or 23.2% of all starts, with cumulative certifications since 2009 reaching about 1.9 million units. The scheme certifies homes meeting durability, seismic, maintenance and energy standards, and was extended to renovations in 2016 and to existing homes without construction work in October 2022. Details are subject to MLIT's original releases.