Recent population data provided by Kyoto City is showing a growing trend of younger residents moving out of the city to surrounding districts. If this trend continues, the city could see a net outflow of residents in the 30-year old age bracket.

The average price of an apartment in the city in 2016 was about 20 ~ 50% higher than the top 10 cities that these younger residents are moving to, leading some to say that Kyoto has become unaffordable for the younger generation. With surging hotel development creating a shortage of residential development sites, the average apartment price in central Kyoto has reached around 1,000,000 Yen/sqm (approx. 835 USD / sq ft), close to double the price in other districts. In 2016, Kyoto City was the second most expensive district in Japan, second to Tokyo, for new apartments with an average price of 52,960,000 Yen.

Across Kyoto City the average new apartment price is around 750,000 Yen/sqm (approx. 630 USD / sq ft), about 50 ~ 150% higher than the southern parts of the prefecture and 88% higher than neighboring Shiga Prefecture. It is also about 7% higher than Osaka City. Prices in Kamigyo, Nakagyo, Higashiyama and Sakyo wards are higher than the average, while Yamashina and Nishikyo wards are more affordable.

The number of Kyoto residents working in the city has fallen below 500,000, a drop of 90,000 over the 10 years to 2015. There have been fewer new factories opening up in the city, causing workers to seek jobs elsewhere. Over the same period the number of residents living in the city but working in other districts has increased by 65% to 168,400.

17% of the city’s domestic product comes from manufacturing, about 7 points higher than other cities. However, factory operators are unable to secure land large enough for new factories and are also finding that land prices have become prohibitively high.

To encourage more residents to live and work in the city and create an appealing environment for young families, the city is considering introducing programs to attract research and development enterprises to open up in the city, taking advantage of its well known universities.

Source: The Kyoto Shimbun, December 12, 2017.

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