Tokyo housing vacancies rise with record 646,800 empty homes

Growing crisis fuels government push to fill unoccupied residences

20240925N Abandoned Tokyo property

The percentage of vacant homes remains high in major cities across Japan. (Photo by Satsuki Kaneko)

HIROFUMI KANAOKA, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- There were 646,800 vacant homes across the 23 wards of central Tokyo last year, the highest number in data going back to 1958, according to an Interior Ministry survey published Wednesday.

The ministry surveys Japan's housing stock every five years. The 2023 survey put the percentage of vacancies in central Tokyo at 10.9%, up from 10.4% in 2018.

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