Homes in Japan with a grim past are finding takers who want a bargain, according to BBC News. Many Japanese people avoid places where someone died by murder, suicide or alone, and those homes sell or rent for far less.

The BBC spoke to a Tokyo entertainer who rents a small flat in Setagaya where a man killed himself. She says she pays 45,000 yen a month instead of 62,000 yen, a discount of almost 30 percent. She believes the flat is haunted and says she hears footsteps every day. "I believe that ghosts were once living human beings, so they deserve our respect," she says.

Such homes are called jiko bukken, or "incident" properties. Under 2021 government guidelines, estate agents must disclose suicide, murder, death by fire and deaths where a body went unfound for a long time. For rentals, that rule lasts three years. For homes for sale, it applies forever.

A Tokyo estate agent says even a flat next to a cemetery can be hard to rent. "The worst thing is if a suicide has happened in the apartment," he says.

In rural Kagoshima, a 79-year-old American tour guide bought a three-bedroom house for 20 million yen. Similar homes there sell for up to 45 million yen. An older woman had died alone in the house. "I don't believe in ghosts," she says.

She found the house on Oshimaland, a website launched in 2005 that lists such homes. The BBC cites a 2025 survey that found more than half of Japanese people would now rent one if it was cheap, as home prices and living costs rise.

What we know: Japanese rules require agents to disclose certain deaths, and buyers and renters can get large discounts on these homes.
What we don't: Only BBC News has reported this so far. NewsHabit hasn't seen independent confirmation.