Tokyo’s plan for housing to be accessible in the most populous city in the world

Tokyo is one of the most populated cities in the world. It does with more than 14 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area that touches 40 million. In such an environment, thinking that housing can be affordable seems impossible. However, the Japanese capital has been applying a model that although it does not completely eliminate the problems, it does contain the price of housing and prevent it from shooting as in many other great places.

Why not; The housing crisis is not just a problem that is found in Spain, much less, nor is it in the rest of Europe. There are many cities in the United States and even Australian who are currently going through difficulties in dealing with housing scarcity.

Tokyo builds homes at a pace that seems unattainable in other cities

This is a fact that directly pushes prices at really high levels, and in large part, almost unassumable for many who want to have a house in property. However, there are countries with a high standard of living where rentals have not yet become a nightmare, such as Japan. And specifically, in Tokyo.

His secret is in a constant renewal of the real estate park and in a less restrictive urban planning regulations. This is what allows you to demolish old buildings and replace them with modern constructions with mixed uses: housing, offices and shops that live in the same space.

Logic is none other than increasing the offer so that the market is not trapped in a shortage that triggers prices. Tokyo understands that a city that is not updated becomes more expensive, more unequal and less habitable.

That is why it encourages the replacement of old buildings with new ones, with more comfortable, safe homes and with better energy efficiency. At the same time, the flexibility in land use makes it easier for each neighborhood to reinvent and remain attractive without expelling those who live there today.

A model sustained by a constant renewal of homes

This is done to expand the housing offer and stop the price escalation. In addition, it improves the quality of life, as the new constructions have more modern isolation, accessibility and technology.

All this does for promoting sustainability, since recent buildings usually incorporate energy efficiency criteria that reduce consumption and emissions. The result is that between the years of 2007 and 2022, housing prices only increased by 20%, compared to 94% of Spanish cities in just 10 years.

There is an important fact; according to The Economistin the municipality of Tokyo, with 14 million inhabitants, more than 130,000 homes are still built a year. In contrast, in the Community of Madrid, with 7 million inhabitants, 10,000 homes per year are barely built, according to the region itself. So to match the Japanese metric, the Spanish would have to multiply the construction of new housing.

Spain in front of Tokyo’s method

In addition, in Spain the reality is even more different. Housing prices do not stop growing and the emancipation of young people is in historical minimums. Just 15% of children under 30 live away from their parents’ home. While those who do not devote up to 92% of their salary to rent, according to the Emancipation Observatory.

Buying is not a realistic option either. In 2025 at least four years of full salary are needed to pay the entrance of a mortgage and up to 14 years to liquidate it, as offered by the data of the Youth Council of Spain, CJE. To this is added that in cities such as Madrid or Barcelona prices have reached records even higher than those of the real estate bubble.

Here, in fact, Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday a new help for young people of up to 30,000 euros to facilitate access to a home through the rental formula with purchase option. The plan contemplates that the paid for rent is described on the final price of the house, which must be permanently protection. It also includes non -payment insurance and specific aids for those who decide to settle in rural municipalities.

Compared to Tokyo, the government measure can be an immediate relief for those who seek to emancipate, but will not resolve the shortage of affordable housing at the root. This, if no more protected floors are built and if a large -scale urban renewal is not promoted, where the risk will be that this money offered by the State is lost in a market that continues with upward prices.

The preference of Japanese buyers for new constructions

In fact, in the eastern country there is a maximum. As the portal explains Cheap Houses Japan, In charge of Michael, a Canadian resident in Japan, “the preference of housing buyers has been for the new constructions. In fact, single -family homes are expected to depreciate completely within 30 years, based on the base that the house will be demolished when the owner dies,” he said.

This construction rate in the Japanese capital has remained for years. Tokyo constantly builds more homes than all California, despite the fact that the US state has its population three times, or that in a few years produces more houses than all England, which has four times more inhabitants. Since the change of the century, the construction of housing in the Japanese city has increased by 30%, even after its population reached its maximum and began to descend in 2007.