According to the Real Estate Economic Institute, the median price (not the average) of a brand-new apartment released for sale across greater Tokyo in the first half of 2019 was 53,990,000 Yen, up 2.1% from the first half of 2018 and up 4.0% from 2017. The average price, meanwhile, was 61,370,000 Yen, up 2.9% from 2018 and up 4.3% from 2017.

This was the first time the average had exceeded 60,000,000 Yen since 1991 when prices were 64,500,000 Yen. The first half of the year saw several luxury high-rises go on sale in central Tokyo, which is the reason for the high average.

The median price in 2018 was 51,980,000 Yen, showing no change from 2017. Since 2009, however, the median price has increased by 25.3%. 

What about apartment sizes?

The median size of a brand-new apartment across greater Tokyo in the first half of 2019 was 70.25 sqm (756 sq.ft), while the average size was 67.69 sqm. Apartment sizes have been on a downward trend for the past 10 years. In 2018, the median size of a new apartment was 3% smaller than it was in 2009.

This is only the second time that the Institute has provided data using medians.  Medians may provide a better indicator of house prices because they are not skewed by outliers, yet the majority of data reported by real estate research agencies in Japan uses averages. This means that a luxury project or a large development released for sale in central Tokyo can pull up the average and distort the data. 

Source: The Real Estate Economic Institute, August 15, 2019.

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