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Last updated: 2026-08-01  ·  TokyoEstate Guides

How to Buy Property in Japan as a Foreigner: A Step-by-Step Guide

Buying property in Japan follows a fairly fixed sequence, regardless of who is buying: a search phase, a written statement of intent, a legally mandated disclosure briefing, a binding contract with a deposit, financing confirmation, settlement, and finally registration of ownership. What changes for a foreign buyer — particularly one without a Japan address — is not the order of these steps but the documentation required at a couple of them. This guide walks through the sequence stage by stage, with the points where foreign buyers most often lose time flagged along the way.

Step 1: Search the market and engage a licensed agent

Most property searches in Japan run through listing portals and, before long, a licensed real estate agent (宅建士). Foreign buyers can and do work with agents who operate in English, though the number of firms offering full bilingual support in Tokyo is still limited outside a handful of specialist brokerages. Because a licensed brokerage handles most transactions here, choosing an agent early is not just a convenience — it shapes which properties you are shown and how quickly you can move once you find one worth pursuing. At this stage, ask directly whether the agent is bilingual, whether they have experience with non-resident buyers, and how they intend to handle communication once the deal reaches its legally binding stages later on.

Step 2: Submit a letter of intent (買付証明書)

Once you have identified a property, the next step is typically a Purchase Application, commonly called a letter of intent or 買付証明書. This is a written statement — usually a short form — declaring your intention to buy at a proposed price, and often noting how you intend to finance the purchase. In most cases this document is not legally binding; it functions as a way of reserving the property and opening formal negotiation with the seller, rather than committing either party to the deal. Sellers use it to gauge how serious an offer is, and agents commonly ask for it in writing even at an early, informal stage. Because it is not a contract, its non-binding status is not a reason to treat it casually — a letter of intent still sets the terms the seller will expect to see carried through into the actual contract.

Step 3: The Explanation of Important Matters (重要事項説明)

Before any sales contract can be signed, Japanese law requires that a licensed 宅地建物取引士 deliver a document setting out the Important Matters (重要事項説明) and explain it to the buyer. This is a statutory duty under Article 35 of the 宅地建物取引業法 (the Building Lots and Buildings Transaction Business Act), not a step an agent can skip to save time. The article is explicit on two points a buyer can hold an agent to: the explanation must come before the contract is concluded, and the 宅建士 giving it must present their 宅地建物取引士証 while doing so (Article 35, paragraph 4). The document itself covers a fixed set of statutory categories: the zoning and legal status of the land, the building's legal and structural status, ownership type, the condominium management association's rules where applicable, and the conditions under which either party can cancel. Read it slowly, and if your Japanese is not strong enough to follow the technical vocabulary, arrange for a translator or a bilingual agent to walk through it with you before the signing appointment, not during it.

One point here has changed recently, and it matters most to buyers who are not in the country. The explanation no longer has to arrive on paper, and it no longer has to happen face to face. Paragraph 8 of the same article lets the agent provide the contents of the document by electronic means — email, a download link, a USB stick — with the buyer's prior consent; MLIT put the enabling amendments to the enforcement regulations into force on 18 May 2022. Separately, delivering the explanation itself over a video link (known as IT重説) moved to full operation for sale-and-purchase transactions on 30 March 2021, after an earlier rollout for rentals. Consent is the hinge in both cases: an agent cannot switch you to electronic delivery unilaterally, and you are equally free to ask for it if a paper document posted overseas would slow the deal down.

What the main costs are and when they fall due

The purchase process involves several distinct payments spread across different stages, with different payees and different implications if the deal falls through. Most of the amounts are transaction-specific and no general guide can responsibly state them — your agent, lender, and judicial scrivener will confirm the figures applicable to your purchase. One is different: the agent's commission has a legal ceiling, set by an MLIT notification rather than by negotiation, so it is worth knowing what that ceiling is before anyone quotes you a figure.

Step 4: Sign the sales contract and pay the deposit

Signing the Sales Contract (売買契約) is the point at which the purchase becomes legally binding for both parties. The buyer pays a deposit (手付金) at this point; the amount varies by transaction, and any figure discussed informally before the contract stage should be treated as provisional until it appears in the signed document. The contract also sets out the conditions under which either party can cancel and what happens to the deposit if that occurs — ask your agent or a lawyer to walk through these terms specifically rather than assuming a standard figure applies, since practice varies by transaction. Read the full contract before signing, and request any unclear term in writing.

Step 5: Finalize financing

If you are financing the purchase with a mortgage, this is typically when loan approval is finalized. Lenders generally want the sales contract in place before finalizing a loan, so the contract and financing stages tend to overlap in practice rather than proceed in strict sequence. It is common practice for the sales contract to include a loan-contingency clause, allowing the buyer to withdraw from the purchase if financing ultimately falls through. Confirm with your lender early — ideally before submitting a letter of intent — whether your residency status, visa type, and income situation meet their lending criteria, since eligibility varies materially by institution and this is one of the areas where foreign buyers most often lose time mid-transaction.

Step 6: Settlement and handover (決済・引渡し)

Settlement, usually called 決済 or 引渡し, generally takes place at the buyer's bank. On this day the buyer pays the remaining balance of the purchase price, and the related adjustments are settled at the same time: fixed-asset tax and, for condominiums, management fees are typically prorated between buyer and seller based on the handover date, and the agent's commission is paid. In exchange, the buyer receives the keys and the documents needed to take possession. Because several parties — buyer, seller, agents, lender, and judicial scrivener — are usually present or represented at settlement, this appointment is scheduled well in advance and is not the moment to be resolving open questions about the contract or the property's condition; those should already be settled by this point.

Step 7: Ownership registration (登記)

Ownership of Japanese real estate is formally transferred through registration (登記) at the Legal Affairs Bureau (法務局), handled by a judicial scrivener (司法書士) rather than by the buyer directly. The scrivener typically files the ownership-transfer registration at or immediately following settlement, and also apportions the registration-related costs and taxes associated with the filing. Because the scrivener verifies identity documents as part of this filing, this is one of the two points in the process — along with the Important Matters Explanation — where the paperwork required from a foreign buyer diverges most from what is required of a Japan resident, covered below.

After settlement: the Real Estate Acquisition Tax

Registration completes the ownership transfer, but one further cost arrives later: the Real Estate Acquisition Tax (不動産取得税), a one-time tax billed separately by the prefectural government some months after the purchase, rather than collected at settlement. The exact timing and amount vary by prefecture, and because the bill arrives well after the transaction otherwise feels finished, it is easy for a first-time buyer — foreign or otherwise — to forget it is coming. Confirm with your agent or tax accountant (税理士) roughly when to expect it and where it will be sent, particularly if your registered mailing address will change after the purchase.

Where the process differs for non-resident foreign buyers

Everything above describes the same sequence a Japan-resident buyer follows. What changes for a foreign buyer without a Japan address is the documentation substituted at a couple of specific points, not the order of the steps themselves.

A Japan resident typically provides a Certificate of Residence (住民票) together with a registered personal seal (実印) and a Seal Registration Certificate (印鑑登録証明書) at the points in the process — chiefly the contract and registration stages — where identity and intent need to be formally verified. A non-resident foreign buyer, who has no Japan address and therefore no resident registration or registered seal, generally substitutes two documents instead: an official certificate of address issued by their home country, and a certification of their signature — in practice a signature notarized by a notary public in the country where they live, sometimes in the form of a sworn affidavit (宣誓供述書).

It is worth being precise about where that signature certification comes from, because this is a point foreign buyers are routinely told wrong. Japanese consulates and embassies do issue a Signature Certificate (署名証明) that stands in for a Japanese seal certificate, and it is expressly usable for property registration in Japan — but only for Japanese nationals. The Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles states it plainly: "Only Japanese citizens may apply for this certificate. Non-Japanese citizens will need to go to a Notary Public for certification and send it to Japan." The same page confirms the other half of the arrangement: "In regards to real estate registrations in Japan, a signature notarized by a Notary Public is also acceptable." So if you are not a Japanese national, plan on a notary in your own country from the start. Booking an appointment at a Japanese consulate for this is a wasted trip.

Because these substitute documents typically involve notarization, and sometimes translation, in your home country, they take longer to prepare than the equivalent Japan-side paperwork, and the process cannot be rushed once it is already underway. This is the most common reason a foreign buyer's timeline runs longer than a resident buyer's for an otherwise identical purchase — not because any step in the sequence is different, but because one input to it starts from further away.

None of the individual stages above is unusual by international standards; what trips up foreign buyers is usually timing — starting the documentation process late, or assuming a step can be skipped because it wasn't required in a previous country's transaction. Engaging a licensed agent and a judicial scrivener early, and asking each of them directly what they need from you and by when, generally keeps the sequence moving at the pace described above.

References

• e-Gov Japan, 宅地建物取引業法 (Building Lots and Buildings Transaction Business Act), Act No. 176 of 1952, full text — Article 35 is the source for the Important Matters explanation, the licence-presentation duty (paragraph 4) and electronic provision with the buyer's consent (paragraph 8). laws.e-gov.go.jp. Accessed 2026-08-01.
• MLIT press release, 27 April 2022, "不動産取引時の書面が電子書面で提供できるようになります" — states that the provisions permitting electronic provision of the Important Matters document took effect on 18 May 2022. mlit.go.jp. Accessed 2026-08-01.
• MLIT, 重要事項説明書等の電磁的方法による提供及びＩＴを活用した重要事項説明 実施マニュアル (PDF) — the consent requirement, and the 30 March 2021 move to full operation of IT重説 for sale-and-purchase transactions. mlit.go.jp (PDF). Accessed 2026-08-01.
• MLIT notification 宅地建物取引業者が宅地又は建物の売買等に関して受けることができる報酬の額 (Construction Ministry Notification No. 1552 of 1970; last amended by MLIT Notification No. 949 of 21 June 2024, in force 1 July 2024) (PDF) — the commission ceiling and the ¥330,000 cap for low-value vacant properties. mlit.go.jp (PDF). Accessed 2026-08-01.
• Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles, "Signature Certificate (Sign Shomei)" — the certificate is issued to Japanese nationals only; non-Japanese applicants are directed to a Notary Public. la.us.emb-japan.go.jp. Accessed 2026-08-01.
• MLIT, 建設業者・宅建業者等企業情報検索システム — search a real-estate company's registration. etsuran2.mlit.go.jp. Accessed 2026-08-01.
• Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Investing in Japan. jetro.go.jp/en/invest. Accessed 2026-08-01.

This guide describes the general purchase sequence used in Japan and is not a substitute for professional advice. Before acting on any step above, verify the current requirements with a licensed real estate agent (宅建士) handling your transaction and a judicial scrivener (司法書士) handling your registration.