Mortgages for Foreign Residents
Mortgages for foreign residents in Japan turn less on the property than on the borrower's residency status.1 Assuming the same menu every bank offers Japanese citizens is the mistake that costs applicants months, so confirm which lender path fits your status before making an offer.
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Japan Housing Finance Agency site and your prospective lender's official product page. This article is general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice; for your specific case, consult a licensed financial advisor or the lending bank's mortgage officer, and a judicial scrivener (shihō shoshi) for ownership-transfer registration.
Overview
Japan places no nationality restriction on real-estate ownership itself; the financing gate is the mortgage screen, which turns on residency status and each bank's rules (limitation: practitioner consensus; no statute was verified for the ownership rule in this pass).1 With permanent residency, a foreign resident can apply to most banks on near-domestic terms, while without it the published menu narrows to about five lenders (limitation: the count is practitioner consensus).1
This article covers resident, owner-occupied borrowing only. Investment loans and non-resident purchases follow different screens, and Flat 35 itself bars investor use.2 On the rental side of the same housing market, MLIT publishes a facilitation guideline for landlords and agents with multilingual contract templates for foreign nationals.3 Lender treatment also varies with employment type, income history, and the property offered as collateral, so read every rule below as bank-specific rather than market-wide.
Why Permanent Residency Decides Most Applications
永住者 (eijūsha, "permanent resident") status is the threshold that decides whether the full lender menu opens or only a short list does. The diagram below maps the three resident paths; each is detailed in its section.
What PR changes in underwriting
Mizuho Bank states its housing-loan applicants must in principle be Japanese nationals or foreign nationals with permanent residency permission.4 Its published conditions add an age band of 18 or older and under 71 at borrowing with full repayment before 81, stable income, enrollment in 団体信用生命保険 (dantai shin-yō seimei hoken, "group credit life insurance"), and a pass on a guarantee-company screen.4
The government-backed Flat 35 product draws the same line. Applicants must be Japanese nationals, persons holding permanent residency permission under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, or 特別永住者 (tokubetsu eijūsha, "special permanent residents").25 JHF publishes a maximum loan of 120 million yen within the construction cost or purchase price and a maximum term of 35 years keyed to full repayment by age 80.2
Flat 35 also caps the 総返済負担率 (sō hensai futan ritsu, "total repayment burden ratio"): 30 percent or less of annual income under 4 million yen, and 35 percent or less at 4 million yen or more, counting all borrowings.2 That ratio includes car, education, and card loans, not only housing debt.2
Work-status holders without PR
Work-status holders without PR face a narrower published lender pool and a heavier documentation burden around employment continuity, tax records, and stay outlook (limitation: qualitative practitioner consensus).1 The megabank standard product is PR-gated in publication, with any non-PR exceptions handled case by case at branch level rather than published.1
Practitioner pages describe possible exceptions at some megabanks for applicants with a Japanese spouse, long residence, or long tenure with one employer, but those exceptions could not be confirmed on any published product page in this pass, so verify at the branch before relying on them.1
The Spouse-of-Japanese Alternative Path
SBI Shinsei Bank states a non-PR foreign applicant may apply only when both conditions hold: the spouse is a Japanese national or holds permanent residency permission, and that spouse joins as 連帯保証人 (rentai hoshōnin, "joint guarantor").6 No other guarantor qualifies, and a non-PR applicant cannot apply alone.6
The resulting application takes a pair-loan, income-aggregation, or guarantor-only structure.6 Practitioner sources add that the spouse's repayment capacity is assessed alongside the applicant's, which often raises the approvable amount, though that description comes from practitioners rather than the bank's FAQ.1
If the marriage later ends, the spouse remains joint guarantor unless the loan is refinanced, according to practitioner sources.1 Price that persistence into the decision before choosing this path.
Most megabanks will lend when the Japanese spouse is the primary applicant or co-signer, often on terms offered to Japanese citizens, though that breadth is practitioner-reported rather than published policy.7 Where one spouse holds PR and the other does not, applying with the PR holder as applicant is usually the simpler screen.
Lenders That Consider Non-PR Foreign Residents
About five lenders publish a genuine non-PR route, though the exact count is practitioner consensus rather than an official tally.1 A June 2026 resident guide names SMBC Trust and Tokyo Star Bank as current lender examples for English-language mortgage support.8 What follows compares published rules without endorsing or ranking any lender.
SBI Shinsei and Sony Bank positions
SBI Shinsei accepts permanent residents fully and considers non-PR applicants only through the spouse-guarantor path described above; it publishes no standalone non-PR product.6 No income figure appears in the bank's FAQ, and secondary sources disagree on one (about 3 million yen in one guide against 5 million in broker comparisons), so this article states no Shinsei income floor.196
Sony Bank publishes an online housing-loan lineup with terms up to 50 years and amounts up to 300 million yen, web-complete contracting, no guarantee fee, no group-credit premium, no stamp cost on electronic contracts, and no partial or full early-repayment fee.10 Its variable-select and fixed-select products carry a 2.2 percent handling fee on the loan amount, while the standard housing loan carries a flat 44,000 yen fee.10
Whether Sony Bank requires PR could not be settled from primary text: the fetched product page states no residency rule, while secondary sources assert a PR requirement or conditional access.1910 Practitioner sources describe a PR requirement, but figures are inconsistently reported, so verify current Sony Bank eligibility at the bank before budgeting around it.
Prestia, Tokyo Star Bank, and smaller lenders
SMBC Trust Bank Prestia states foreign residents in Japan holding a status of residence other than short-term stay may apply without PR.11 It requires age 18 or older at borrowing with full repayment by the 80th birthday, enrollment in its designated group credit life insurance, and prior-year income of 10 million yen or more with stable income (declared income for the self-employed); a guarantor is generally not required.11 Japanese contracts are authoritative with English translations provided, and applicants must communicate in Japanese or English.11
Older secondary pages describe a 7 million yen floor, but the bank's FAQ (updated 2025-10-03) states 10 million yen in prior-year income.11 Treat the lower figure as outdated unless the bank confirms otherwise.
Tokyo Star Bank publishes a dedicated Star Mortgage for foreign nationals without permanent residency.12 Its product description, dated 2025-11-04 on the page, requires residence in Japan, Japanese reading and writing ability, age 25 to 65 with full repayment by 75, and officially documented stable income for at least one year as a full-time employee or three fiscal years as an officer or self-employed person.12
Income must reach 4 million yen or more per year, or 3 million yen or more for regular employees aged 40 or younger subject to the bank's collateral valuation; the property must sit in a major urban area, and signing happens in branch.12 Loan bounds run 5 million to 100 million yen capped at the purchase price for purchase use, with terms of 1 to 35 years in equal monthly installments and optional bonus repayment up to 40 percent.12
Tokyo Star charges no guarantee-company fee and no early-repayment fee, while its administration fee runs 2.2 to 3.3 percent of the loan amount per loan plus registration and stamp costs at actuals (as of 2025-11-04; confirm current figures with Tokyo Star Bank).12 Designating the repayment account as the salary-deposit account reduces the lifetime rate by 1.10 percent in principle (as of 2025-11-04), and the bank may improve terms after PR is granted subject to screening.12 A spouse, if any, must join as joint borrower or joint guarantor.12
A Tokyo-area credit cooperative, Asuka Shinkin, publishes a dedicated home-loan product for foreign nationals without permanent residency, according to practitioner pages; the cooperative's own page was not fetched in this pass.1
Suruga Bank and the caution note
Suruga Bank states foreign customers without permanent residency may consult, including those planning to apply for PR and company owners.13 Applications are accepted from anyone who understands Japanese and the bank's product and contract explanations in Japanese; where the explanation cannot be understood in Japanese, the bank declines.13 No guarantor is required in principle, except with co-owned collateral or combined income.13
Loan bounds run 300,000 yen to 600 million yen, with terms of 1 to 40 years for detached houses and 1 to 50 years for condominiums on a twice-yearly reviewed variable rate with fixed payments for five years.13 Borrowers must be 18 or older and under 70 at borrowing with full repayment before 85 and able to join group credit life insurance, and the bank takes a first-priority mortgage or revolving mortgage on the property.13
Contacting the bank after acquiring PR during the loan may lower the rate subject to screening (as of 2026-04-30), and the product page states current as of 2026-04-30.13 Treat Suruga as a narrower, specialist route: confirm the current rate, eligible areas, and language handling directly with the bank, since no enforcement finding was verified in this pass and the caution here reflects concentration and variable-rate risk only.
Loan-to-Value, Rates, and Cost Structure
Loan-to-value here means the loan amount divided by the purchase price or construction cost, the 融資率 (yūshi ritsu, "loan-to-value ratio under Flat 35").2 Every band below comes with its date; bank pages publish almost none of them, so consensus figures are labeled as such.
Typical loan-to-value bands
Mizuho describes a general 20 percent down-payment guideline on the purchase price and advises about 25 percent in self-funds including taxes and fees, while accepting applications below 20 percent down with consultation.4 Practitioner sources place PR-holder down payments at 0 to 20 percent and non-PR down payments anywhere from 10 to 50 percent by profile and lender, with 20 to 30 percent the most cited band (as of 2026-05 and 2026-07 across sources; confirm current figures with your prospective lender).179 One June 2026 guide uses around 20 percent as a planning benchmark while noting some borrowers are asked for more.8
No bank product page fetched in this pass publishes a foreigner-specific loan-to-value cap, so treat every band above as market consensus rather than bank policy.1 The table below collects the fee side of the same picture, with each row carrying its own as-of date.
| Item | Amount | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Down-payment guideline, general | 20 percent of price; 25 percent self-funds with costs | page fetch 2026-094 | Mizuho guidance, not a foreigner rule |
| Non-PR down-payment range | 10–50 percent; 20–30 most cited | 2026-05 – 2026-07179 | Practitioner range, not bank policy |
| Tokyo Star administration fee | 2.2–3.3 percent of loan | 2025-11-0412 | Per loan, plus actual registration costs |
| Sony variable and fixed-select fee | 2.2 percent of loan | page fetch 2026-0910 | Tax included |
| Sony standard loan fee | 44,000 yen flat | page fetch 2026-0910 | Tax included |
Interest-rate landscape
Market summaries commonly describe variable rates around 0.3 to 0.6 percent and long-term fixed rates around 1.5 to 2 percent, a historical-low context that has shaped buyer expectations for years (as of 2026-07).9 A July 2026 broker comparison reports MUFG variable rates at 0.35 to 0.55 percent, Mizuho at 0.37 to 0.60 percent, SBI Shinsei at 0.50 to 0.95 percent, and Prestia at 0.65 to 1.10 percent (as of 2026-07).9 One May 2026 practitioner guide separately reports standard variable rates near 1.0 percent in early 2026 against about 0.4 percent in 2024, so treat discounted campaign bands and standard posted rates as different prices.1
Flat 35 pricing is set per lender and published on the JHF rate page, with the rate at drawdown rather than application applying by term band, loan-to-value band, and group-credit choice.2 The most common 21 to 35 year Flat 35 rate reached 2.080 percent in January 2026, the first 2 percent print since the October 2017 revision, according to publisher reporting (as of 2026-01).7
Practitioner summaries report that the Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to 0.75 percent on 2025-12-19, a 30-year high, with variable rates climbing at most majors from April 2026 (as of 2026-05).1 The central-bank PDF itself could not be parsed in this pass, so treat the figure as practitioner-reported until checked against the Bank of Japan release.14 Opting out of group credit life insurance under Flat 35 typically reduces the rate by about 0.2 percentage points, also publisher-reported (as of 2026-02).7
| Product | Indicative band | As of | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Variable, megabank tier | 0.3–0.6 percent | 2026-079 | Broker comparison, not bank-published |
| Fixed, long-term Flat 35 type, 21–35 yr | around 2.0 percent | 2026-017 | Publisher-reported |
| Prestia variable | 0.65–1.10 percent | 2026-079 | Broker comparison, not bank-published |
| SBI Shinsei variable | 0.50–0.95 percent | 2026-079 | Broker comparison, not bank-published |
One-off purchase and loan costs
One publisher table puts total transaction costs at 5 to 6 percent of the price with 1 to 2 percent in bank or loan fees, a planning estimate rather than a schedule (as of 2026-02).7 Mizuho lists the loan-side items: stamp tax on the loan contract (waived for electronic contracts), registration-related tax and scrivener fees for the mortgage, guarantee-related handling at 2.2 percent of the loan for the handling-fee type or folded into the rate for the zero-upfront type, and optional fire insurance.4
Flat 35 charges no guarantee fee and no early-repayment fee, while the borrower pays the lender's financing fee and the inspection agency's property-inspection fee, both varying by institution.2 It requires fire insurance on the property through payoff with coverage at or above the loan balance, or the appraisal value if higher, at borrower cost.2 The agency takes a first-priority mortgage on the home and land, with setup costs such as registration tax and scrivener fees borrower-paid.2
The home-loan tax credit lets owners deduct 0.7 percent of the outstanding balance, capped at a 50 million yen balance, from national income tax for up to 13 years, subject to residency, size, and efficiency conditions (as of 2026-02).7 That summary comes from a publisher; confirm eligibility with the National Tax Agency guidance before modeling it.
Application Documents and Screening Flow
Document scope
Mizuho publishes a required-documents page for its net loan and accepts uploads or mail, though the page's line items were not extracted in this pass.4 Tokyo Star publishes a required-documents checklist PDF alongside its product description.12 Flat 35 requires proof of prior-year income by public certificate, with salary amount for salary-only earners and total income amount otherwise; practitioner sources add that foreign applicants present their residence card or special-permanent-resident certificate plus resident record.21
Practitioner consensus describes the full scope as residence card, resident record, income and tax records, employment or tenure proof, bank statements, and property papers including the purchase contract, registry, and inspection certificate for Flat 35 (limitation: practitioner checklist).1
| Term | Reading and gloss |
|---|---|
| 住宅ローン | jūtaku rōn, "housing loan, mortgage"4 |
| 永住者 | eijūsha, "permanent resident"5 |
| 特別永住者 | tokubetsu eijūsha, "special permanent resident"5 |
| 連帯保証人 | rentai hoshōnin, "joint guarantor"6 |
| 団体信用生命保険 | dantai shin-yō seimei hoken, "group credit life insurance"4 |
| 司法書士 | shihō shoshi, "judicial scrivener"4 |
| 融資率 | yūshi ritsu, "loan-to-value ratio under Flat 35"2 |
| 総返済負担率 | sō hensai futan ritsu, "total repayment burden ratio"2 |
Screening sequence
Mizuho formal screening takes about 7 to 10 days after all documents arrive, then about three weeks to contract through electronic signing, while the net loan needs 30 or more days from formal application to borrowing (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with Mizuho Bank).4 Tokyo Star runs pre-screening online, then an application decision, then document submission with final screening, then in-branch signing with all parties, then disbursement.12
SBI Shinsei points applicants to its examination-application conditions page for the screening flow.6 Suruga accepts web applications with uploaded documents after account registration, or paper pre-screening, while noting screening may still decline the request.13 Across lenders the standard sequence runs from property offer through pre-screening and formal application to the loan agreement with insurance and disbursement at settlement with the judicial scrivener (limitation: practitioner synthesis).1
Mizuho waives the stamp tax on the loan contract for electronic signing.4 It is minor beside the guarantee handling, but it is a real saving for net-loan applicants.
Good to know
Flat 35 is not a non-PR route under current agency rules
Older guides still describe Flat 35 as the easy path for foreigners without PR, but that advice is outdated. JHF requires Japanese nationality, permanent residency, or special permanent residency, and warns that a loan granted without that status must be repaid in a lump sum.52 Any page claiming otherwise predates the current agency rule.
A pre-approval is property-specific, not a blank check
Signing a purchase contract before the collateral review finishes is the timing mistake to avoid. Lenders screen the borrower and the property separately: a newer condo in a strong area finances more easily than an old building with weak management or unclear repair plans, and Tokyo Star caps purchase-use loans at the purchase price with further limits from income and collateral valuation.121
Changing visa status mid-loan needs a call to the lender
A status change or a move abroad does not continue silently under the original terms. Tokyo Star and Suruga both describe post-PR rate improvements on request and screening, which shows the lender reprices on status facts rather than ignoring them.1213 Non-resident acquisition separately triggers post-transaction reporting to the Finance Minister through the Bank of Japan within 20 days of acquisition.15
Separately, budget the transaction costs, not only the down payment. Publisher estimates put total one-off costs at 5 to 6 percent of the price with 1 to 2 percent in bank or loan fees, on top of the down payment itself (as of 2026-02; confirm current figures with your prospective lender).7 Those are planning estimates rather than a schedule, so collect the written fee schedule from the chosen lender before signing.
See also
- Bank Account in Japan for Foreigners: The Six-Month Rule
- The Four Divorce Paths
- Housing-Loan Interest Deduction