a day ago
Share houses thrive offering affordability, modern twists
The living room of a share house near Asakusabashi Station in Tokyo's Taito Ward (Provided by Borderless House Corp.)
When Masaya Kobayashi moved to Tokyo after graduating from a college in Kanazawa, he thought about renting an apartment at first.
But he discovered that the monthly rent alone would cost around 100,000 yen ($685) along with an additional 300,000 to 500,000 yen in initial expenses.
So, Kobayashi, 24, moved into a share house where he lives with other tenants who share common spaces such as a kitchen and living room.
'This place offers me an opportunity for international communications and English learning,' he said.
The share house market is expanding in Japan amid rising rents for urban dwellings.
The style of multiple people living in a single rental property is gaining popularity even among foreign visitors.
Travelers increasingly prefer staying in share houses to conventional hotels, as these accommodations' room charges are rapidly rising.
Against this backdrop, modern versions of share houses are steadily emerging to change their traditional image as 'cramped and dirty.'
AFFORDABLE, RICH IN EXPERIENCES
Kobayashi's co-living complex is a five-minute walk from JR Asakusabashi Station in Tokyo's Taito Ward.
The second to fourth floors of the former hotel building were converted into residential spaces in fall 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eighteen men and women from Japan and abroad are currently spending time together at the establishment. The residents are all in their 20s and 30s.
Rents start from 86,000 yen, inclusive of utility expenses. The restroom, shower facilities and kitchen are communal, while the share house alike features private rooms with locks that range from about 4.5 to 7 tatami mats in size.
Aspiring residents are required to show their 'willingness to interact with others.' The operator of the shared home stated that it maintains a 1:1 ratio of males to females and Japanese to foreigners.
The common living room is furnished with a dining table and a sofa, providing a space for 'takoyaki' octopus dumpling parties and other almost weekly recreational events. Animated conversations in Japanese and English are always exchanged there.
CONSTANT RISE IN URBAN RENTS
Among the advantages of shared homes are cheaper rents compared with apartments and other such housing facilities.
Figures from real estate information provider At Home Co. show the rent for a single-person property of 30 square meters or less in Tokyo's 23 wards averaged 99,083 yen as of March. The rental fee hit a record high for 10 consecutive months.
Rents were increased by at least 3 percent year on year in such areas as Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Fukuoka, too.
'Demand for rental properties once declined in the COVID-19 outbreak but has since recovered in earnest,' said an At Home representative. 'Ballooning construction and labor costs have additionally exerted a significant impact, so a sustained uptick in rents is expected from this point forward as well.'
Due to the continuous rise in rents in metropolitan areas, shared housing complexes are seeing a surge in demand.
A survey by the Japan Shared House Organization found that there were 6,123 such accommodations in 2024 nationwide, up 5.4 percent from the previous year. The number climbed for the third straight year, with there being 2.2 times more share houses than a decade ago.
Buoyed by a rise in the number of unoccupied buildings throughout Japan, increasing inquiries are coming from owners who want to turn properties into shared houses.
Borderless House Corp., which runs a total of 59 share houses mainly in Tokyo alongside Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and Sendai, stated that these establishments' average occupancy rate was 90.5 percent in 2024.
'Our share houses are instantly filled as soon as they are put in place' in central Tokyo in particular, explained a Borderless House official.
Taking account of the expansion in inbound demand, shared residence operators similarly roll out the red carpet for the growing number of foreign tourists who want to stay in Japan for a month or longer.
Share houses specifically enjoy a good reputation among sightseers via their affordable prices compared to the rising hotel rates. The chance to casually experience Japanese culture through interactions with other residents also adds to the appeal of shared houses.
Hidamari, which is responsible for 85 shared residential facilities mainly in the metropolitan area around the capital, said that the ratio of non-Japanese residents has lately jumped to 60 percent. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 90 percent of its share house users were Japanese.
UNCONVENTIONAL IDEAS
During the boom, unorthodox variations of share houses have successively been introduced.
Boasting a 25-room shared home, the commercial complex OttO opened in April near JR Omiya Station in Saitama, close to Tokyo. It is equipped with a movie theater and cafe for residents' benefit.
Tomore Shinagawa Nakanobu, a share house in the capital's Shinagawa Ward, provides its dwellers with not only private spaces in personal rooms marked by toilets and shower equipment but also a communal living room and kitchen.
On top of this, a specialized area for remote teleworking is available. The unique amenities make Tomore Shinagawa Nakanobu something between an old-style share house and a rental apartment for single people.
Amid the rise of shared homes, a challenge remains: the growing number of reports about conflicts between residents.
According to the accounts of the Japan Shared House Organization, trouble often arises over the cleaning of common areas in recent cases. Other frequent sources of problems, for example, include noise and the use of communal spaces in daily life.
'We recommend that prospective residents should check the operator's countermeasures for cleanliness and other issues, as well as the rents,' noted Taku Nakahara, a public relations officer for the organization and a director of Hidamari.
