Houses for Sale in Fukushima (2026): Prices, Regions and Relocation Grants

The short answer

Engawa's catalogue holds 94 Fukushima listings: 49 houses and 45 plots of land, all from municipal akiya banks and collected on 23 July 2026. The median asking price of the 43 houses with a stated price is ¥5.4 million, and 16 of them ask less than ¥5 million.

The prefecture splits into three very different markets. Aizu, in the mountains to the west, has the cheapest houses (a median of ¥4.65 million). Nakadori, the inland corridor around Fukushima City, has the newest and dearest. Hamadori, on the coast, is mostly land, and most of that land is in Okuma and Namie, two towns placed under evacuation orders after the 2011 nuclear accident, where those orders have since been lifted in stages. People who move from outside the prefecture to one of those 12 municipalities can receive a relocation grant of ¥2 million per household, but only Japanese nationals and a short list of residence statuses qualify.

Fukushima by the numbers

Figures come from Engawa's catalogue, which draws on Fukushima's municipal akiya banks (published through At Home). They describe that stock, not the whole Fukushima market: commercial portals carry newer and pricier homes. Listings with no stated price (6 houses and 25 plots) are left out of every price figure, never counted as free.

94

Fukushima listings in our catalogue: 49 houses and 45 plots, in 16 towns

¥5.4m

Median asking price of the 43 houses with a stated price, against ¥4.5m for all houses we list in Japan

16

Houses asking less than ¥5 million; the cheapest asks ¥1.0 million, in Yugawa

39

Listings in the 12 former evacuation-order municipalities: 31 in Okuma, 7 in Namie and 1 in Tamura

A typical Fukushima akiya-bank house is large: the median floor area is about 133 m² on a 301 m² plot. Of the 45 houses with a known build year, 29 were built before 1981; the stricter earthquake standard (shin taishin) applies to buildings approved from June 1981.

Aizu, Nakadori and Hamadori compared

Fukushima's three regions are separated by mountain ranges. This table groups our listings by region, which is the first decision a buyer here makes. It is the comparison we could not find anywhere else in English.

Medians use only listings with a stated price; the build-year column counts houses with a known year. Three patterns stand out:

• Aizu is the cheap house market, with a flood caveat. Aizu-Misato alone has 12 houses at a median of ¥4.9 million, including a farmhouse with an attached storehouse built in 1946. But all four Yugawa listings, including the two cheapest houses in the prefecture at ¥1.0 million and ¥1.5 million, sit inside a designated flood zone on the Aizu basin floor.
• Nakadori is where newer houses are. Fukushima City's 14 houses range from ¥2.8 million to ¥29.5 million with a median of ¥8.75 million, and 9 of them were built in 1981 or later. That is the stock to look at if you want a house you can move into without major structural work.
• Hamadori is mostly land, and expensive land. Okuma's plots with a stated price have a median of about ¥15,400 per m², roughly double the Kiryu median in our Kiryu buyer guide. The coast is also where shaking risk is highest: the strongest J-SHIS reading in our Fukushima data, a 36.7% chance of shindo 6-lower or stronger within 30 years, is a house in Onahama, Iwaki, while no Aizu listing reads above 3.2%.

Our guide to reading Japanese hazard maps explains how to check the exact address of any listing on these maps yourself.

Okuma and Namie: land in towns that are reopening

Okuma and Namie are among the 12 municipalities placed under evacuation orders after the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Both have reopened in stages:

• Okuma: evacuation orders for its residence-restricted and evacuation-preparation zones were lifted on 10 April 2019, part of its difficult-to-return zone followed on 5 March 2020, and the town's specified reconstruction base, inside the difficult-to-return zone, was lifted in June 2022.
• Namie: the evacuation order for its specified reconstruction base, covering parts of Murohara, Suemori and Tsushima, was lifted on 31 March 2023.

Both towns still have areas where people cannot live, and both have approved plans for further "specified return and residence zones". Across the whole prefecture, the remaining difficult-to-return zone covers about 2.2% of its area.

What that means for a buyer:

These towns are not cheap places to buy a plot, and they are not for everyone. They are where the grants below are largest, and where the towns are actively looking for new residents.

The 12-municipality relocation grant

Fukushima Prefecture pays a relocation grant to people who move from outside the prefecture to one of the 12 municipalities that were under evacuation orders after the nuclear accident: Tamura, Minamisoma, Kawamata, Hirono, Naraha, Tomioka, Kawauchi, Okuma, Futaba, Namie, Katsurao and Iitate. The figures below are from the prefecture's page for the 2026 round, updated 1 April 2026.

Who qualifies: a quick check

A worked example

A married couple, both permanent residents, have lived in Tokyo for ten years. One takes a permanent job in Okuma and they move there together, then buy an Okuma plot at ¥7,350,000, the median of the plots with a stated price.

• Grant: ¥2,000,000 as a household, paid for moving there rather than for buying, so the purchase itself does not change it.
• Conditions: they apply between three and twelve months after moving in, and stay at least five years. Leaving within three years means repaying the full ¥2,000,000.
• What it covers: the grant is about 27% of that plot price. Building a house on the plot is a separate and much larger cost, and the closing cost calculator adds the taxes and fees on the land purchase.

The grant page also refers to a separate business start-up grant for people who start a company there. Check the current rules on the prefecture's page and with the town before you count on any of them.

How buying from a Fukushima akiya bank works

Akiya banks are run by each town, not by the prefecture, and the rules differ. Each listing says who handles the sale; where a real estate agent does, a brokerage fee is payable at contract on top of the price, and our guide to Japanese brokerage fees explains the cap on low-priced property. Nationality is not a condition for buying land or a house in Japan, as our guide to whether foreigners can buy property in Japan explains, but the relocation grants above are tied to moving and living there.

1. 1

   Pick a region first.Aizu for cheaper houses, Nakadori for newer houses around Fukushima City, Hamadori for land in towns that are rebuilding.

2. 2

   Check the hazard maps for the exact address.Look up flood depth and landslide zones on the national hazard map portal, and the J-SHIS shaking probability, especially on the Aizu basin floor and the coast.

3. 3

   Find the build year.A house built before 1981 needs a seismic assessment and possibly reinforcement, which belongs in the budget from the start.

4. 4

   In Okuma or Namie, ask the town about the zone.Confirm the plot's position relative to any remaining difficult-to-return zone, utilities, and what is open nearby.

5. 5

   Confirm grant eligibility before you move.Check your residence status against the prefecture's list and the 2026 deadline of 29 January 2027.

If you would rather not do this in Japanese, our concierge service coordinates the purchase in English: a $25 first call, then $5,000 flat. It introduces a licensed local agent, who handles the contract and may charge their own brokerage fee under the legal cap. For a cost picture beyond the asking price, read the real cost of buying an akiya, or browse the whole Fukushima prefecture page, the Okuma and Aizu-Misato town pages, and every listing under ¥5 million.

Sources and review notes

Catalogue figures cover the Fukushima listings in Engawa's catalogue, collected from municipal akiya banks on 23 July 2026. Three listings filed under Fukushima in the catalogue belong to towns in other prefectures and are left out. It is akiya-bank stock, not the whole market, and listings may have sold since. Listings without a stated price are excluded from medians, never counted as free. Hazard readings come from the national flood, landslide and J-SHIS datasets for each listing's coordinates and should be confirmed for the exact address. Grant amounts and conditions are quoted from the prefecture's page as it read on 27 October 2026; eligibility is decided by the prefecture and the municipality.

• Fukushima Prefecture: 12-municipality relocation grant, 2026 round (Japanese)
• Fukushima Prefecture: Okuma evacuation-order status (Japanese)
• Fukushima Prefecture: specified reconstruction bases and return zones (Japanese)
• Ministry of the Environment: lifting of reconstruction base evacuation orders (Japanese)
• MLIT: earthquake damage and the need for seismic retrofits (Japanese)
• MLIT and GSI hazard map portal
• NIED J-SHIS seismic hazard map

Editorial ownerEngawa Editorial Team

MethodEngawa catalogue analysis of Fukushima akiya-bank listings, Fukushima Prefecture pages on the 12-municipality relocation grant and on evacuation-order lifting in Okuma and Namie, the Ministry of the Environment summary of reconstruction base lifting, and the national hazard datasets

Checked on27 October 2026

This article is general information, not personalized legal, tax, structural, financing, visa, or investment advice. Property and service availability can change.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a house cost in Fukushima, Japan?+

In Engawa's catalogue of Fukushima akiya-bank listings, collected on 23 July 2026, the median asking price of the 43 houses with a stated price was ¥5.4 million. Sixteen asked less than ¥5 million, and the cheapest asked ¥1.0 million in Yugawa, in the Aizu basin.

Which part of Fukushima has the cheapest houses?+

Aizu, in the west. Its 16 houses in our catalogue have a median asking price of ¥4.65 million, against ¥8.5 million in Nakadori around Fukushima City. Aizu-Misato alone lists 12 houses at a median of ¥4.9 million, but every Yugawa listing sits in a designated flood zone.

Can you buy land in Okuma or Namie?+

Yes. Okuma has 31 plots in our catalogue, of which 11 state a price, with a median of ¥7.35 million; Namie has six plots and one house. Both towns still contain areas under evacuation orders, so ask the town where the plot sits relative to any remaining difficult-to-return zone.

How much is the Fukushima 12-municipality relocation grant?+

For the 2026 round it is ¥2,000,000 for a household that moves together and ¥1,200,000 for a single person, with additions in some cases for children under 18 and for medical, nursing or welfare workers. Applications run from 1 April 2026 to 29 January 2027.

Can foreigners get the Fukushima relocation grant?+

Only some. The prefecture lists Japanese nationals, permanent residents, spouses of Japanese nationals, spouses of permanent residents, long-term residents and special permanent residents. Work visas are not on the list, and overseas owners who do not move there cannot apply.

How old are the houses in Fukushima akiya banks?+

Mostly older than 1981. Of the 45 Fukushima houses in our catalogue with a known build year, 29 were built before 1981, when the stricter earthquake standard (shin taishin) took effect in June. Fukushima City has the newest stock: 9 of its 14 houses were built in 1981 or later.

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