Changes in rental prices in greater Tokyo are not uniform, with larger apartments now outperforming smaller, single-occupant housing. This is happening for a few reasons.
As the purchase price of apartments continues to rise, some homeowners are being priced out of the market and are renting instead. And, with the pandemic causing some companies to allow more remote and flexible work conditions, tenants are seeking apartments with extra space so they can work from home.
This is apparent in the 2023 Rent Market Map published by Haseko Livenet which separated the data on rental apartments into single (25m2), compact (40m2) and family-type (60m2) housing.
For family-type apartments, 51% saw rents increase, 35% saw no change, and 14% saw rents fall. 12% of apartments saw rents increase by over 10% in 2023. For single-type apartments, eg. studios, 37% saw an increase, 38% saw no change, and 25% saw a decrease. None experienced rental growth above 10%. Compact-type apartments performed somewhere in the middle.
| TYPE | INCREASE | NO CHANGE | DECREASE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | 37% | 38% | 25% |
| Compact | 47% | 34% | 19% |
| Family | 51% | 35% | 14% |
In Tokyo’s 23 wards, 10% of family-type apartments saw rents increase by over 10%. In Saitama Prefecture, the share was 21%, and in Chiba Prefecture it was 24%. In contrast, just 0.5% of single-type apartments in the 23 wards saw 10%+ increases in rents. Saitama (0.6%), Chiba (2%), and Kanagawa (0.4%) also saw low figures.
The most expensive station areas in Tokyo to rent an apartment:
- Single-type: Omotesando Station @ 147,000 Yen/month
- Compact-type: Kamiyacho Station @ 265,000 Yen/month
- Family-type: Omotesando & Gaienmae Stations @ 379,000 Yen/month
The report samples data from 95 train lines and 1,030 stations. It only includes rental apartments built within the past 20 years that are within a 10-minute walk from the closest train station.
