When you find a home in Japan and agree on a price, that price is not what you will actually pay. Layered on top of it is a bundle of transaction costs Japanese buyers call 諸費用 (shohiyō) — agent fees, taxes, registration costs, insurance, and loan charges. None of it is optional, and some of it doesn't arrive until months after you've moved in. This guide walks through every line item so the number on the listing stops being the number you budget around.
Rule of thumb: budget roughly 6–10% of the purchase price in shohiyō for a used (中古) home, and about 3–7% for a new-build (新築) — new construction often skips the agent fee entirely when bought directly from the developer. This is a planning range, not a quote; use the cost calculator to work out your own numbers.
Unlike a lot of these costs in other countries, shohiyō in Japan is not all due at closing. Some of it — most notably the real-estate acquisition tax — is billed by the prefecture several months after you already own the place. That timing gap catches a lot of buyers off guard, so it's worth tracking each piece separately rather than treating "closing costs" as a single lump sum.
The agent fee (仲介手数料)
If you buy through a real-estate agent, the 仲介手数料 (chūkai tesūryō) is usually the single largest item in shohiyō. It is capped by law, not fixed: for a property priced over ¥4 million, the legal upper limit is (price × 3% + ¥60,000), plus 10% consumption tax on that fee. The cap is a ceiling, and it is negotiable — some agents discount it, especially in competitive markets. Since July 2024, properties priced at ¥8 million or below can be charged a somewhat higher flat cap of up to ¥330,000, a change meant to make low-value listings economically viable for agents to handle.
The one scenario where this fee disappears completely: buying a new home directly from the developer (売主, the seller of record) with no brokerage in between. No agent, no commission, ¥0 chūkai tesūryō. This is a big part of why new-builds tend to land at the lower end of the shohiyō range. For the full formula, worked examples, and how to negotiate it, see the agent fee in detail.
Two taxes charged on assessed value, not price
Two of the biggest tax line items are not calculated from what you paid — they're calculated from the 固定資産税評価額 (fixed-asset tax assessed value), a government valuation that is typically lower than market price.
登録免許税 (registration and license tax) is paid when the transfer of ownership and any mortgage are registered at the Legal Affairs Bureau (法務局). Current reduced rates: 1.5% on land ownership transfer (standard rate is 2.0%), 0.15% on a new building or 0.3% on a used building (standard is 0.4% new / 2.0% used), and 0.1% of the loan amount for mortgage registration (standard 0.4%). These reductions require the property to be an owner-occupied home meeting certain size and construction standards — they are not automatic for every purchase.
不動産取得税 (real-estate acquisition tax) is a prefectural tax of 3% of assessed value, down from a 4% standard rate. For owner-occupiers there's also a ¥12,000,000 deduction applied to the residential building's assessed value, which often brings the building's tax to ¥0 outright. Residential land is separately assessed at half its value for this tax, and a land tax credit typically offsets most or all of what remains. Net effect: many owner-occupied purchases end up paying little or nothing in acquisition tax — but the prefecture doesn't bill you until a few months after you've already closed, so don't assume the silence means it's waived; confirm the notice when it arrives.
| Tax | Reduced rate | Standard rate | Reduction expires |
|---|---|---|---|
| 登録免許税 — land transfer | 1.5% | 2.0% | 2029-03-31 |
| 登録免許税 — new building | 0.15% | 0.4% | 2027-03-31 |
| 登録免許税 — used building | 0.3% | 2.0% | 2027-03-31 |
| 登録免許税 — mortgage registration | 0.1% of loan | 0.4% of loan | 2027-03-31 |
| 不動産取得税 | 3% of assessed value | 4% | 2027-03-31 |
| 印紙税 (stamp duty) | bracket amount, reduced | higher bracket amount | 2027-03-31 |
Every one of these reductions is a temporary measure with a legal sunset date, and the Diet has extended similar reductions before — but extension is never guaranteed. Always confirm the currently applicable rate with 国税庁 (National Tax Agency) or 総務省 (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) guidance, or a professional, before relying on it in your budget.
Stamp duty (印紙税)
The sale contract itself needs a revenue stamp, priced by contract-value bracket under the current reduced schedule — for example, ¥10,000 for a contract between ¥10 million and ¥50 million, or ¥30,000 for one between ¥50 million and ¥100 million. If you're financing the purchase, the loan agreement is a separate contract and needs its own stamp, calculated on its own bracket.
The judicial scrivener (司法書士)
Registering the ownership transfer and mortgage isn't something you file yourself in practice — a 司法書士 (shihō-shoshi, judicial scrivener) handles the paperwork with the Legal Affairs Bureau. Their fee is separate from the registration tax itself, typically in the ¥80,000–150,000 range, and runs higher when a mortgage registration is also involved.
Loan fees
If you're financing with a mortgage, lenders in Japan typically offer one of two fee structures, and both tend to land around 2% of the loan amount overall:
- 事務手数料型 (administrative-fee type): a one-off admin fee of roughly 2.2% of the loan amount, with no separate guarantee fee.
- 保証料型 (guarantee-fee type): a small admin fee (around ¥33,000) plus a lump-sum guarantee fee of roughly 2% of the loan — or, alternatively, no lump sum but an extra 0.2% added to your interest rate for the life of the loan.
Which structure works out cheaper depends on how long you keep the loan and whether you might refinance or pay it off early. This is also where being a foreign resident changes the picture most — lenders vary widely in what visa status, residency history, and permanent-residency requirements they accept. See home loans for foreigners for what lenders actually look for, and if you haven't yet confirmed you're eligible to purchase in the first place, start with whether foreigners can buy at all.
Fire insurance (火災保険)
Fire insurance is usually purchased as a multi-year policy at closing, and the price range is wide: roughly ¥50,000–150,000 for a mansion (condominium unit), and ¥150,000–400,000 for a detached house, reflecting the higher structural risk and larger insured value of a standalone building. Earthquake insurance is typically a separate add-on rider, not included in these figures.
Why these are estimates, not quotes
Every tax above is calculated on assessed value, not the price you agreed to pay — and assessed value is not published for a home until it's registered, so before closing you're working from an approximation. As a rough guide, assessed value tends to run around 70% of market value for land, and roughly 50–60% of construction cost for a new building. That means two homes at the identical purchase price can generate meaningfully different tax bills depending on their assessed values. Treat every percentage in this article as directional, and get an exact figure from your agent or scrivener once assessed values are known.
What's not included here — but coming
Shohiyō covers the transaction itself, but two related costs sit just outside it. First, 固定資産税 (fixed-asset tax) and 都市計画税 (city planning tax) are annual bills you'll owe every year you own the home — see the ongoing property taxes for how those are calculated. Second, at closing you'll typically reimburse the seller a prorated (日割り) share of the current year's property tax, covering the days remaining in the tax year after you take ownership — a small settlement that isn't a "cost" so much as a fair split, but it does add a line to your closing statement. And remember that the acquisition tax bill, even when it nets close to ¥0, generally arrives by mail months after you've already moved in — don't let its absence at closing convince you it's been forgotten.
This article is informational only and is not legal, tax, or financial advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or a statement about what you can afford. Tax rates and 軽減措置 (reduction measures) are revised periodically, often each April, and expiry dates can be extended or allowed to lapse. Confirm current rates and your own eligibility for reduced rates with 国税庁, 総務省, 法務局, or a licensed tax or real-estate professional before making any decisions. If you have more general questions about the buying process, the FAQ is a good next stop.