Houses: Where Buyers Have Moved vs Where Sellers Are Pricing

Across Uchi’s Japan data, recorded house sales increased from 52 to 93 between the two winter periods. The active median asking value changed very little, from ¥119.0m to ¥118.0m, while the average indicative sold-listing value fell from ¥114.3m to ¥93.9m and observed average sales velocity improved substantially. That combination suggests buyers were finding more liquidity in a cheaper part of the house market rather than sellers simply marking the entire stock down.

Niseko is the strongest example. Its active house median asking value rose slightly to ¥130.0m, and median asking ¥/sqm rose to ¥884k/sqm. The average indicative sold-listing value nevertheless fell to ¥111.1m as sales rose to 48. The calendar-year asking data points in the same positive direction as the winter asking data, which makes the divergence with the sales sample particularly meaningful.

Hakuba and Furano tell almost opposite stories. Hakuba’s current sold houses sit above the broader active median, while Furano’s much deeper new house pool has pulled the active median and sold average down into more accessible territory. The member analysis below separates these markets and adds ¥/sqm and sample coverage so the lower ticket can be interpreted as product mix, liquidity or genuine pricing pressure rather than automatically labelled a fall.