Buying a Home in Japan as a Couple

By MISAWA Masaki, Certified Tax Accountant (Zeirishi, Reg. No. 157367) — formerly of Japan’s tax authorities · Published July 11, 2026 · Reviewed July 17, 2026

In many countries, couples and families can open a joint bank account. Japan has no such arrangement: a deposit account has a single named holder. This habit of distinguishing “whose name” from “whose money” matters even more with real estate — because when a couple or partners buying a home or holiday house in Japan casually register the ownership “half each”, a gift tax problem can arise.

Ownership shares must follow the money

The registered ownership shares should, as a rule, match the shares of the funds each person contributed. To the extent you take a larger share than you paid for, the other person has in effect paid the price of that excess on your behalf; the excess is treated as a gift from them (a deemed gift), and gift tax applies once the annual ¥1.1 million basic exemption is exceeded.

Deemed gift: a worked example

Worked example (assumptions: a ¥50,000,000 property funded ¥40,000,000 by the husband and ¥10,000,000 by the wife, registered half each): the wife acquires a ¥25,000,000 share against a contribution of ¥10,000,000, so the ¥15,000,000 difference can be treated as a gift from husband to wife.

A mismatch between the named borrower on the housing loan and the person actually making the repayments can likewise be characterised as a gift.

If the error is noticed after registration, a corrective registration can bring the shares into line with the true position; but correction after the fact is not straightforward, and is not always accepted.

Fix the shares before you sign

The basic protection is to fix, before signing the sale contract, exactly who is contributing how much — down payment, housing loan and costs included — and to register the ownership shares accordingly. (See our note: The Japanese Envelope That Arrives Every Spring.)