Are non-permanent foreigner residents eligible to apply for a housing loan in Japan?
Housing loan is a big loan and often takes long repayment periods. The bank will check various conditions such as annual income and numbers of working years, in order to evaluate borrower’s repaying ability. Among the prerequisites, permanent residence visa is of upmost importance.
There are financial institutions that allow loans for foreigners without permanent visa, but most Japanese banks require applicants to have either Permanent Residence status, or a residence period in Japan long enough to be eligible to apply for Permanent Residence status.
In some circumstances, non-permanent residents are eligible for housing loans, but the applicant’s spouse must be a Japanese citizen or a permanent resident of Japan. Their spouse will then be the joint guarantor for them to apply for the loan with the bank.
In addition, even if the married foreign couple does not hold permanent residence status, some financial institutions still offer housing loans if they can read and write Japanese and understand the contents of the contract in Japanese. Foreigner residents can also apply for a loan from their home country’s bank that has a branch in Japan.
Below is a summary of general prerequisites for housing loans among Japanese financial institutions.
BANK A
・Those who have a resident card in Japan
・Those with residence status which qualifies working permit
・A full-time employee of a Japanese company who has worked for more than one year
・Those with annual income of 4 million yen or more including tax in the previous year
・Those who have a family must have annual income of 6 million yen or more including tax in the previous year (sum of couple’s income is OK)
・Those who can speak and understand Japanese
・Those aged over 20 to under 65 years old, age at the time of completing payment of a loan should be under 75 years old
・Those who are eligible to join group credit life insurance
・The loan amount is up to 50% of the property evaluation value
BANK B
・Those living in Japan
・Those with residence status which qualifies working permit
・Annual income of 5 million yen or more including tax for the previous year
・Those who can communicate in Japanese or English
・Those who are eligible to join group credit life insurance
・Those who are 20 years old or older at the time of loan application and under 80 years old at the time of completing payment
・The loan amount is up to 80% of the property evaluation value
BANK C
・Those whose spouse is Japanese citizen or foreigner with permanent residence status and the spouse can become the joint guarantor.
・Those aged over 20 to under 65 years old, age at the time of completing payment of a loan should be under 80 years old
・Those who are qualified to join group credit life insurance
・Full-time employees or contract employees whose years of continuous employment in Japan is at least 2 years and annual income of 3 million yen or more in the previous year, including tax.
BANK D
・Those with residence status which qualifies working permit
・Those who can read and write Japanese
・Those who are able to prepay 20% or more of the purchase price
・Those aged over 20 to under 71 years old, age at the time of completing payment of a loan should be under 80 years old
・Those who are qualified to join group credit life insurance
・Annual income of 1 million yen or more including tax for the previous year
・Be employed continuously for more than 6 months
・Those with a borrowing period of 1 year to 15 years
*Loan interest rate is the branch-displayed rate + 1%
For foreigners who do not have a permanent residence status, the prerequisites for housing loans are rather difficult. There is an increasing number of foreigners who purchase real estates in cash instead of applying for loans.
[Click here for information of properties under 10 million yen]We can also introduce a property reforming company.
Please feel free to contact us if there is a property you are interested in.
Meiko Property Partners Inc.
