## Housing performance (Quake resistance, barrier-free features and energy efficiency)

Housing stock insufficient in quake resistance (Estimated)

Total number of houses: Approximately 47 million

Number of houses built up to 1981: Approximately 18.5 million

Source: Estimated by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, based on “Housing and Real Estate Survey,” Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 2003

Current features of barrier-free housing

All housing	Privately owned houses	Rented houses	Housing for the elderly
A. Two or more handrails	15.3%	21.5%	5.9%	23.9%
B. No uneven surfaces on the floor	13.1%	17.0%	7.2%	13.2%
C. Hallways spacious enough for wheelchair access	12.6%	17.2%	5.7%	16.7%
One of A, B or C fulfilled	25.5%	34.5%	11.9%	34.3%
Two of A, B or C fulfilled	21.6%	29.3%	10.0%	28.9%
All of A, B and C fulfilled	5.4%	7.3%	2.6%	6.7%

Source: Estimated by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, based on “Housing and Real Estate Survey,” Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 2003

Mandatory reports concerning energy saving measures introduced in April 2006

$ ^{*} $ Percentage of the number of houses fulfilling the criteria (defined in 1999) among houses evaluated in terms of energy efficiency

Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 2006

## (How to secure housing and the cost of doing so)

In the average workers’ household budget, housing costs (including house rent and mortgage repayments) accounted for an increased share of real income, as real income had been on the decline. However, the ratio of housing costs remained almost unchanged, at around 10%, for the period from 2003 to 2008. Of households who have purchased homes or rented private sector housing, homeowners (only those who are paying mortgage repayments) pay as much as approximately 18% of their real income as housing costs, and those renting private-sector housing pay 15%.

Regarding costs for the purchase of housing in the Tokyo metropolitan area, in recent years, house prices have been on the rise due to a steep rise in land prices and material prices. In 2007, the average prices of a condominium apartment and a stand-alone house reached six times the average annual earnings. In addition, regarding mortgage repayments, the amount of risk management loans, including nonperforming loans, provided by Japan Finance Housing Agency (former Japan Housing Loan Corporation) has somewhat been on the rise recently.

## Ratio of housing costs

Note1: Ratio of housing costs = Housing costs ÷ Real income

Housing costs = House/land rent + repair expenses + mortgage repayments

Note2: Working households with two or more family members were surveyed.

Source: "Household Expenditure Survey," Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

## (Housing for long-term service)

For how long these homes are being used? In Japan, the average age of homes demolished is only 30 years old, shorter than that of homes in the United States. This means that Japanese people bear higher housing costs than their U.S. counterparts, and to ease the burden, it is necessary to lengthen the life of homes and to shift our society into a stock-based society.

In the housing market, almost all of transactions are those concerning newly built homes. This, as a result, limits options for consumers. In the future, it will be necessary to provide more reasonably-priced existing homes suited to people’s needs, by more properly evaluating the market value of existing homes to facilitate housing transactions.