Kobe’s transaction data points to a relatively liquid premises market rather than a thin one-off market: 2,679 house transactions were recorded in 2025, with a median house price of ¥26.0 million. Prices have been essentially flat, with a 5-year CAGR of -0.75%, while older houses traded at a much lower median of ¥15.0 million.
This suits buyers who want choice and comparables more than scarcity value. Transactions have risen markedly from around 1,400–1,600 a year in the 2010s to 2,679 in 2025, and older homes now account for a large share of deals (1,107 trades in 2025; akiya proxy ratio 0.4132), which matters for buyers targeting a café, inn, workshop, or residence-plus-business format in an existing building. At the same time, Kobe has a large vacant stock (118,400 homes; vacancy rate 13.89%), but only a small portion appears to be turning over each year (akiya mobilization ratio 0.00935), so the opportunity set is broad on paper but not all vacant property is actually coming to market. Affordability is middling rather than cheap by local income standards, with a price-to-income ratio of 6.23.
The caveat is that these figures describe residential transaction aggregates, not turnkey commercial properties or building condition. Net migration was negative in 2024 (-2,013, or -0.13%), and 27.45% of residents are aged 65+, so buyer plans that depend on strong population growth should read the local demand picture carefully. Also, vacancy data is from 2023 and income/migration data from 2024, so supply, affordability, and demographic indicators are not all from the same year as the 2025 transaction snapshot.