Tokyo is nevertheless an impressive city, worth visiting. But have you ever thought of living there? Maybe you think that it wouldn’t be such a good idea, given the fact that Tokyo was considered the third most expensive city in the world, according to a 2020 top. Be that as it may, Tokyo is a place of contrast. It is indeed an expensive city of Japan, and real estate doesn’t make a difference. But besides the million-dollar homes, you can also purchase kominka-s, the traditional Japanese houses, for a lot less. even apāto-s, the famous tiny dwellings, may be a good investment.
What does $1 million mean in Tokyo?
For some hundreds of thousands of dollars, you can be the owner of multilevel homes, with four-five bedrooms or big, spacious apartments. The real estate market in Tokyo is extremely open for any budget. The difference is..where are all those properties located. As with any other big and important city in the world, the location sets the price (most of the time). But for the sake of our article, we would like to show you the properties that you can buy for the equivalent of one million dollars….in any neighborhood.
As you know, Japan has the Japanese yen as a currency. 1 dollar means around 104 JPY. Doing just a simple calculation, one million dollars will equal approximately 104 million JPY. For this kind of money, you can actually purchase quite a lot of things, but not in the center, in the luxurious areas. 1sqm in the center of Tokyo costs approximately $16,300, according to globalpropertyguide.com. Tokyo comes on the second place, after Hong Kong where 1sqm is the equivalent of $28,750. If we take a look at an average over all 23 wards of Tokyo, then 1sqm would be ¥1,278,000 JPY, which is $12,300. The average for the whole of Greater Tokyo is even less: ¥959,000 ($9,220).
Homes or apartments for $1 million?
Average sale prices in 2020? $606,000 (¥62,5 million)
$1 million dollars means approximately ¥104 million (depending on the volatility of the currency). To create a picture of what we can afford for this price, let’s put it in perspective. For example, in 2018, the average price for a single-family home was ¥64,870,000. And there is usually an 8.5% increase year after year. In 2020, the average sale price for a new apartment was approximately ¥62,5 million. That means around $606,000. This is including the suburbs, but if we take into consideration only the 23 wards of Tokyo this number increases to ¥77,750,000 ($748,000).
As in any other big city, the central neighborhoods of Tokyo like Shoto, Jingumae, Ebisu, Hiroo/Azabu, or Shirokane will have high land prices and you will get small houses, and more expensive. If you are looking for popular residential areas, you can have a look at Ota, Setagaya and along the popular train line in Meguro-Ku. Here you can have a bigger space for lower prices. Let’s have a look at some of the places and see what exactly we can buy.
2 Bedroom Apartment in Minato-Ku – $1,050,000
According to Sotheby’s, we can purchase this place for 109 million JPY, which is approximately $1,050,000. It is located in Minato-Ku, it has two bedrooms and one bathroom. This apartment is located on the 15th floor and it has a living area of 73 sqmt. Minato-Ku is a special ward of Tokyo called also Minato City., located in the central-east. It is an area with a lot of embassies and foreign corporations, due to these things you can find here a lot of buildings and homes with foreign residents. Here, you can find also quiet areas, shopping or nightlife areas.
9 Bedroom House in Kita Ku – $964,000
If you prefer a house with more space, check this one from Kita Ku. It has two stories, nine bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a land area of 864 sqm. The ward where is located in the north of Tokyo metropolis. You can find here very decent rent prices and housing, ample green spaces, and an artistic vibe. This is due to the fact that it used to be a favourite quarter for artists and writers.
2 Apartments in Shibuya-Ku – $824,000
The housing market is quite flexible so you can even buy a decent property in Shibuya, a central ward of Tokyo. For example, you can buy two apartments in Asahi Mansion, a building built in 1998, with 14 floors. You can check it here. The price for one is 42,800,000 JPY which would mean roughly $412,000. Shibuya is a major commercial and financial centre of Tokyo, and it houses the two busiest railways stations in the world: Shinjuku station and Shibuya station.
16 Apāto-s (Tiny Apartments)
An apāto is a Japanese term used for a two-story apartment building, that is usually made of iron and wood. The living space is usually small and the sleeping area is often in a loft upstairs or the so-called “mezzanine”. The living space can even have only 10 sqm and pictures of these tiny dwellings are all over the internet. You can check also here. The rent for this type of housing can be somewhere in between 50 to 70,000 JPY, around 450 to 600 dollars. The internet is provided free of charge and you pay the fee of renewal once every two years.
The price of an apāto? This one next to Kitaayase station, in Adachi-Ku ward (north of Tokyo), and a living space of 18 sqm is 6,500,000 JPY, which means around 62,500 dollars. Indeed, it is a bit larger than 10 sqm, so those of 8 or 10sqm are even cheaper and for one million dollars you can definitely make a larger investment and acquire around 20.
2 Kominka-s (Traditional Japanese House)
Kominka is the traditional Japanese house, especially those ones built many years ago, before World War II or the Taisho Period. The main material that they are built of is wood. The kominkas are divided into four styles, the most popular one is machiya (merchant’s house). The price of a kominka? It depends very much on the location, and if it was renovated or not. Kyoto is a more well-known city for these traditional houses. Here you can buy a house for ¥49,000,000, which means approximately $472,000
Preview photo source: Pixabay
