On June 21st, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) published the results of the FY2023 Comprehensive Condominium Survey.
Conducted every five years, the last survey was carried out in FY 2018.
The survey aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of existing policies and provide foundational data for future policy recommendations regarding condo association management.
Conducted via mail and online from October 2023 to March 2024, the survey targeted 4,270 condominium management associations and 8,540 individual owners nationwide.
Response rates were 37.2% (1,589 responses) from management associations and 36.3% (3,102 responses) from individual condo owners.
Below are key findings from the report.
Aging Population
The survey revealed a significant aging trend among residents, with 25.9% being over 70 years old, a 3.7% increase from the previous survey.
Older condominiums had a higher proportion of elderly residents, with those built before 1984 having over 55.9% elderly occupants.
Additionally, 60.4% of individual owners intend to live permanently in their current condos, a 2.4% decrease from the last survey.
Rental and Vacancy Rates
The proportion of condo associations with rental units increased to 77.8%, a 3.1% rise, while those with vacancies exceeding three months decreased to 34.0%, a 3.3% drop.
Older buildings were more likely to have higher rental and vacancy rates.
Specifically, 2.9% of management associations reported vacancy rates over 20% for buildings constructed before 1984, while 56.8% had vacancies between 0% and 20%.
For buildings constructed after 2015, only 0.6% reported vacancies over 20%, and 71.3% had no vacancies.
Long-term Repair Plans
Regarding management practices, 59.8% of condo associations had set repair reserve fund amounts based on long-term repair plans spanning over 25 years, a 6.2% increase.
The incremental increase method for reserve funds was adopted by 47.1% of condominiums, compared to 40.5% using the uniform increase method.
Newer buildings were more likely to use the incremental method, with over 80% of buildings constructed after 2015 adopting this approach.
36.6% of condominiums reported insufficient reserve funds compared to their plans, with 11.7% of associations facing a shortfall of more than 20% estimates funds needed, a decrease of 3.8% from the previous report.
External Expertise
Regarding the appointment of external experts to HOA board of directors, 34.6% of condo associations were either considering it or willing to consider it if needed in the future, a 6.3% increase.
The primary reasons were the aging of individual owners (42.7%, a 5.1% increase) and a shortage of willing candidates for board positions (42.3%, a 5.8% increase).
Disaster Preparedness
In terms of disaster preparedness, 23.7% of management associations reported collecting and disseminating information on disaster prevention and response, a 6.8% increase.
Conversely, the proportion of associations doing "nothing in particular" decreased by nearly 12% from the previous survey to 11.6%.
Further Reading:
MLIT 2023 Comprehensive Condominium Survey SUMMARY (Japanese only; 29 pages)
MLIT 2023 Comprehensive Condominium Survey CHARTS (Japanese only; 20 pages)
Sources:
R.E. Port News (Japanese only)
MLIT Webpage (Japanese only with links to very granular survey data)
