Rental properties in Tokyo have skyrocketed!　A number of people are unable to make a new start in April” because they can’t find a house.

You can no longer choose where to live.

On March 14, a group of people were seen at the east exit of Shinjuku Station saying, “The rent is too high. Do something about it! demonstration” was held at the east exit of Shinjuku Station on March 14, drawing attention to the rise in rental prices in Tokyo as a social issue. According to “Average Rent of Rental Apartments and Condominiums in Major Cities in Japan in January 2026” published by At Home, the average rent for a single apartment (30 m2 or smaller) in the 23 wards of Tokyo was 107,658 yen, 17,882 yen higher than last year, an 11.1% increase. Apartments (30 m2 or smaller) also rose 6.8% to 72,118 yen, a 4,619 yen increase. Rents are rising not only in Tokyo, but also in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, with price hikes particularly noticeable for properties for singles.

Those directly affected by the rent hikes are those who plan to start their new lives in April. University students, their parents, and newcomers to the workforce are also experiencing increased pressure on their lives due to rent hikes.

Mr. A, who was accepted to Waseda University this year, also faced the high cost of rent in Tokyo. Although he moved to Tokyo from the countryside, he says he is unable to choose the environment in which to live because rent is higher than he had imagined.

After being accepted to the university, I went to a real estate agency near Takadanobaba Station and asked them to introduce me to a place to live, but the market rent for a one-room apartment near the university was around 80,000 for a single person, and I couldn’t afford it. I didn’t think it would be this expensive. My parents send me 100,000 yen a month including rent, so I looked for a cheap house to the limit of what I could compromise on and ended up living in a place about 40 minutes from the university by train,” said Mr. A.

In the end, Mr. A decided on a studio with a rent of 65,000 yen. He said the room was somewhat spacious because it had a loft, but he “compromised” on the fact that it had a unit bath.

He also said that the gap in rental housing among new college students is widening. Mr. B, who has decided to enter university, was surprised at the difference between himself and new students at the same university when he saw their posts on SNS.

When I looked up “University student from spring” or “XX University from spring” on SNS, I found pictures of newly built 1LDK-like rooms posted along with phrases such as “living alone from today. I understand that you can live in a large room if you are in a rural area, but it seemed to be in Tokyo and within the 23 wards.

In my case, I am a private university student whose parents are paying my tuition and rent, so I cannot be selfish. However, when I think about the gap between myself and those who live in a one-room apartment with a unit bath, I still envy them. I can’t help but think of it as a kind of ‘parental mess.

Mr. B’s parents probably have a parental desire to give him the best room possible, but even so, there is a limit to what they can do due to family budget issues. The parents’ generation is not unaffected by the rising rents of rental apartments in Tokyo, as they “don’t want their children to live in a room that looks like an animal pen.

New workers are also suffering

The increase in rent is a burden not only for university students, but also for those who will start living as a new working adult in April.

He says, “When I was in my fourth year, I had job hunting and graduation thesis to do, and I hardly worked part-time, so I had no savings. I thought I couldn’t stand the two-hour commute, including trains, from Saitama, where I lived when I was a student, to Tokyo Station, where I worked, so I thought about moving, but the initial cost was 500,000 yen. Naturally, I did not have that kind of money, so I borrowed 400,000 yen from my parents. I didn’t think I would be borrowing money from my parents at my age, so it was very embarrassing.

Mr. C will pay back the money he borrowed from his parents over the course of this year, and he complains , “I guess savings will have to wait for the time being.

When we spoke to a rental real estate agent in Tokyo about the impact of rising rental prices, he told us that “many people are changing the area in which they live.

The impact of rising rents has been felt quite a bit over the last year or so,” he said. I have a feeling that people are taking advantage of the price hikes by compromising by choosing older buildings rather than new construction, or by changing the way they live, such as choosing a location away from the station and riding a bicycle to the station.

Another real estate agent says, “The sensibilities of our parents’ generation are no longer valid.

Some parents think that if the rent is too high, they should live in an old property. However, such properties may look like a normal house to their parents, but to younger people, they look like a ‘shabby house’ or an ‘old house,’ which is not a good impression. Moreover, when the parents are shown the actual house, they often avoid it, saying, “I can’t let them live in such a place. Parents don’t want to put their children through as much hardship as possible, so there are many cases where they are forced to do so.

Rent hikes are happening all over the world, and it is by no means an isolated incident. There are many stories of rents being raised at the time of renewal, and there will be more and more cases of people being unable to live in homes they were able to live in a few years ago. People have different criteria for choosing a property, but they will be forced to compromise even more in the future.

While more and more townhouses are being built and the number of wealthy people is increasing, Tokyo may be becoming a city where it is difficult for ordinary people to live.