Can You Get a Mortgage in Japan as a Foreigner?

Short answer: it depends entirely on whether you live in Japan. Foreigners with permanent residency can get a mortgage at most major banks. Non-residents living abroad? Almost certainly not. Here's how it actually works — and why most akiya buyers skip the mortgage entirely.

If you have permanent residency

You're in the best position. Permanent residents (永住者, eijūsha) can apply for mortgages at virtually all Japanese banks — Mizuho, MUFG, SMBC, Resona — under the same conditions as Japanese citizens. That means access to the government-backed Flat 35 program (fixed-rate loans up to 35 years), competitive variable rates starting as low as 0.2%, and down payments as low as 10%.

The standard requirements: stable employment in Japan, taxable income, group credit life insurance eligibility, and being between 20 and 65 years old at the time of application. If you tick these boxes and hold PR, the mortgage process is relatively straightforward.

If you live in Japan without permanent residency

This is where it gets harder, but not impossible. A handful of banks specifically lend to foreign residents on work visas, spouse visas, or highly skilled professional visas:

• SMBC Prestia (formerly Citibank Japan) — no PR required, English-language support, minimum income typically ¥5–10 million/year, requires group credit life insurance
• Tokyo Star Bank — offers the "Star Mortgage" for non-permanent residents, loans up to ¥100 million, terms up to 35 years
• AEON Bank — accepts non-PR applicants, but requires Japanese reading/writing ability, minimum 6 months employment (3 years if self-employed), and 20% down payment
• Suruga Bank — officially prefers PR but has a foreign mortgage program that considers non-PR applicants case by case, English documentation available

The trade-offs for non-PR borrowers: higher down payments (20–50% instead of 10%), shorter loan terms in some cases, higher interest rates (typically 0.5–1% above PR rates), and stricter employment requirements (2–3 years with the same employer). Some banks also require your spouse to be Japanese or a permanent resident to act as guarantor.

If you don't live in Japan

This is the situation most akiya buyers are in — and the honest answer is that standard Japanese mortgages are not available to non-residents. No residence card, no Japanese address, no loan from a Japanese bank.

Your options as a non-resident:

• Pay cash — by far the most common approach for akiya purchases. Given that many akiya sell for ¥1–10 million ($7,000–$70,000), cash transactions are practical for most buyers.
• Finance through your home country — some buyers take out personal loans, HELOCs, or remortgage existing property in their home country to fund a Japanese purchase. The bank doesn't need to know or care what you're buying.
• Regional bank programs — in some Asian markets (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore), banks like ORIX Asia and UOB offer mortgage products specifically for Japanese property purchases. These are rare and typically aimed at investors buying higher-value properties.

Why most akiya buyers pay cash

Beyond the difficulty of getting a mortgage, there are practical reasons why cash dominates akiya transactions:

Banks don't lend on cheap properties. Most mortgage products have minimum loan amounts of ¥5–10 million. If you're buying an akiya for ¥2 million, there's no loan product that fits.

Old buildings don't appraise well. Japanese banks value the building separately from the land, and a house past its 22-year statutory useful life has near-zero building value. The loan-to-value ratio on an old akiya is terrible from the bank's perspective.

The process is faster without a bank. Cash transactions can close in 2–4 weeks. Mortgage applications add 4–8 weeks of processing, documents, and back-and-forth — which some sellers and municipal akiya banks don't want to wait for.

For a complete walkthrough of the buying process, fees, and what to budget beyond the listing price, see the Complete Guide to Buying Property in Japan.