Why Is Japan’s Housing Vacancy Rate So High? A History of Postwar Housing Policy

Abstract

Abstract This article provides an explanation for Japan’s current vacant housing crisis. While existing explanations usually ascribe the crisis to demographic factors or individual governmental policies, this article seeks to transcend those explanations by situating the vacant housing phenomenon within a broader social, economic, and historical context. Drawing on historical materials, the empirical analysis deciphers how the state has subordinated housing development to the overarching objective of economic growth through the manipulation of housing finance policies and land use planning regulations during the postwar period. The article argues that today’s vacant housing crisis is the result of the state’s pro-growth housing policies throughout the postwar period.