Japanese Young Adults Panic-Buy Homes as 40- to 50-Year Mortgages Expand

Japan’s young adults are buying homes amid a growing fear that waiting will make ownership impossible. The homeownership rate for households of two or more people headed by someone in their 20s reached 40.7% last year, the highest level since the statistic began in 2000.

The rate had remained in the low 20% range in the early and mid-2000s. It later fluctuated, stayed around the low 30% range from 2015 through 2023, and then rose sharply from 2024, surpassing 40% last year.

The article attributes the buying pressure to steep house-price increases and concerns about rising interest rates. The Research Institute of Real Estate Economics said the average price of newly built condominiums in the Tokyo metropolitan area exceeded 100 million yen in the first half of this year for the first time.

As prices continue to climb, some lenders are offering mortgages lasting 40 to 50 years, reflecting the lengths to which younger households are going to enter the housing market.