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The story
According to a survey by AtHome, the average rent for single-occupant rental apartments in Tokyo’s 23 wards rose 10% year-on-year in August to ¥114,339 — the highest figure since records began. Rents in nearby areas like Kanagawa and Saitama have also kept climbing, and posters noted that areas with good access to central Tokyo, such as Yokohama and Kawasaki, have long been at elevated levels. On the 5ch thread, some lamented that they could “no longer afford to move,” while others debated whether renting or buying makes more financial sense, and discussed how rising construction costs and interest rates are pushing up not just land prices but detached-house prices too — opinions were split.
Apartment rents remain stubbornly high. Last month, the average rent for single-occupant apartments in Tokyo’s 23 wards topped ¥114,300, setting a new record high.
According to real estate information site operator AtHome, the average August rent for single-occupant rental apartments in Tokyo’s 23 wards rose 10% from the previous year to ¥114,339.
That’s the highest since the survey began.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Glad I bought when I did
But maintenance fees are skyrocketing too
What exactly did you buy?
You think Odawara/Hiratsuka have the same rent as Yokohama/Kawasaki?
Areas of Kanagawa within an hour's commute of Tokyo — Yokohama, Kawasaki, etc. — have always been pricey.
Most people can't handle a 90-minute commute, it's brutal
Nah, Kanagawa's too run-down, don't like it
Is that okay?
This is flat-out stagflation.
That's just you
Regular salarymen have gotten decent raises
A 1R (one-room studio) isn't fit for a human to live in
Some 1Rs are over 40㎡, plenty roomy
They really need to break it down by size instead of lumping in anything under 20㎡
Owning rental property just looks like pure risk to me
What risk? It's basically free money for you (lit. "wet hands scooping up millet" — effortless profit), quit cherry-picking the convenient parts
If it's just the first big renovation it's no big deal (won't go over budget), and I won't even be living there by the second one so it doesn't matter
but it's still only just over ¥40,000 lol
For singles, renting a cheap apartment is way better value than buying
I'd only buy if I truly had nowhere left to live
Sounds like your quality of life is rock bottom
I'm in a 35-year-old 1K in Kokubunji myself for ¥45,000
Even so, that's a steal for this area
The landlord renovated it so it doesn't feel old at all, it's comfortable
They're out there if you look — people probably just pile on conditions like "I absolutely must live in central Tokyo!"
Even if you buy, you'll get hit with about ¥40,000 a month in condo management fees and repair reserve contributions
Plus you don't need a car
Tokyo's gotten harder to live in with so many neatly-dressed foreign tourists around
Now that the yen's weak, if you go out in ordinary clothes you stand out
"Groceries and goods are cheaper in Tokyo, so it's fine to keep raising the rent"
Guess we've entered that kind of era now
Not needing a car only applies if you're single with no kids or caregiving to do — once you have children
you really do need your own car, and it only gets more necessary as your parents get older
You can't rent a new place at 50?
Am I gonna end up homeless too?
Hurry up and find your next place
Worst case, rent a Leopalace (a nationwide budget rental chain) temporarily
But a backwater town like that doesn't have Uber Eats or Timee (a gig-work shift app) either
Studio apartments are cheap in Osaka, so Osaka works too
Wonder if there's actually work there though
"Hesitate and even detached houses get pricier" — what's behind the popular ¥100-million-plus "oku kodate" houses in greater Tokyo
https://mainichi.jp/articles/20260914/k00/00m/020/134000c
New detached-house prices in Tokyo's 23 wards top ¥130 million, a record high for the second straight month
https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/1111394
A size and layout with absolutely no dreams or hope left in it
It's construction costs and interest rates driving it more than land prices
I'm starting to feel like I should just buy one, but thinking about all the rent I've already paid, buying now feels kind of pointless too
The homeownership rate keeps climbing all the way into people's 70s, so even renter-guys who got squeezed out of the rental market end up buying eventually
Isn't that just people moving into their dead parents' house?
You won't be able to rent once you're old anyway
Even a cheap row-house (rebuildable) couldn't get a mortgage
Wonder if a studio apartment would qualify
Background and Key Points of This Topic
This figure comes from AtHome’s published rent index, which tallies asking rents for single-occupant units (mainly studios through 1K layouts). Even within “single-occupant,” units range from cramped spaces under 20㎡ to spacious 1Rs over 40㎡, so as posters pointed out, the average alone doesn’t give a clear picture of the real market. The rent increases stem from soaring construction materials and labor costs, interest rate trends, and persistently strong demand for commuting access to central Tokyo. On the thread, some floated buying a home in response to the rent surge, but it was also noted that condo management fees and repair reserve funds are being pushed up by inflation too, so “buying means peace of mind” isn’t necessarily true. As for moving to the countryside, posters pointed to practical constraints of leaving urban areas, such as the lack of gig-work options like Uber Eats or Timee.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “August average rent for single-occupant apartments in Tokyo’s 23 wards hits record ¥114,339 — Kanagawa and Saitama also up over 10% year-on-year.”
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