SUUMO (スーモ) is the largest residential listing portal in Japan. For most foreign buyers in Tokyo, it is the first stop. It is also a marketing surface, not a neutral database. Every photo, every floor plan, every "新着" (new) badge is there to move you toward an inquiry. If you read SUUMO without skepticism, you will misjudge price, condition, and timing.
This guide walks you through how we at RE : public read a SUUMO listing line by line. The goal is not to find the "best" unit. The goal is to filter out noise, identify risk early, and reach the viewing stage with informed questions.
Why SUUMO needs a skeptic's eye
SUUMO is operated by Recruit (リクルート). Brokerages pay to list. The same property often appears under multiple agencies, sometimes with different photos, different wording, and sometimes different prices. This is legal under Japan's distribution system but creates three issues for you:
- Listing duplication inflates the apparent supply of a building.
- Price discrepancies between duplicates can signal a recent reduction one agency has not updated.
- The agency you contact first is often the one that gets the commission, not necessarily the one closest to the seller.
Japan's property distribution runs through REINS (不動産流通標準情報システム), a closed inter-agency database. SUUMO is the consumer-facing layer above it. What you see is filtered. What you do not see — days on market history, prior price drops, withdrawn listings — is often more useful than what you do.
The fields that actually matter
A SUUMO listing has roughly twenty fields. Most are decoration. These are the ones we read first.
Price (価格) and management fees (管理費・修繕積立金)
The headline price is only part of the monthly burden. Always sum:
- Monthly management fee (管理費)
- Monthly repair reserve fee (修繕積立金)
- Parking, if applicable (駐車場代)
- Estimated property tax (固定資産税) — usually not shown, ask
A unit priced at ¥80,000,000 with ¥45,000 in monthly fees is materially different from one at ¥82,000,000 with ¥18,000. Over a 10-year hold, that gap is around ¥3.2M. The cheaper sticker is often the more expensive unit.
Skeptic check: if the repair reserve is under ¥10,000/月 in a building over 15 years old, that is a tendency toward future special assessments (一時金徴収). The reserve is likely underfunded.
Building age (築年数) and the 1981 / 2000 lines
Japanese seismic code has two key revision points:
- June 1981 — new earthquake standard (新耐震基準). Buildings permitted before this date carry materially different risk.
- 2000 — wood-frame revision (mainly for houses, but relevant for low-rise).
SUUMO shows construction completion date (築年月). What it does not show is the building permit date (建築確認日), which is what actually determines which code applies. A building completed in late 1981 may have been permitted under the old code. For anything near the line, you ask the agent for the 建築確認済証 date.
Floor plan code (間取り)
"2LDK" tells you almost nothing. The number you want is the layout efficiency:
- Exclusive area (専有面積) in m²
- Balcony area (バルコニー面積) — not counted in 専有面積 but often used in marketing photos
- Direction (向き) — south (南向き) carries a price premium of roughly 3–7% over north in central Tokyo, per our analysis of recent transactions
A 60m² 2LDK with a wide frontage (ワイドスパン) lives differently from a 65m² 2LDK shaped like a corridor. Photos rarely show this. The floor plan diagram does.
Land rights (権利形態)
This is where foreign buyers most often misread.
- 所有権 (freehold) — you own the land share. Standard.
- 借地権 (leasehold) — you own the building, lease the land. Comes in two main flavors: 旧法借地権 (old law) and 定期借地権 (fixed-term).
Fixed-term leasehold units look cheap on SUUMO. They are cheap for a reason: at the end of the term (often 50–70 years from original grant), you return the land. Resale value declines on a known curve. This is not inherently bad, but it is a different asset class. If the listing says 借地権, treat the price comparison to nearby freehold units as meaningless.
Photo and copy red flags
Listing copy is written by agents, not sellers. The patterns are consistent.
What suspicious copy looks like
- "リフォーム済" (renovated) with no detail — ask what was actually replaced. Cosmetic paint and a new sink is not a renovation. Pipes, wiring, and the bathroom unit (ユニットバス) matter more.
- "即入居可" (immediate move-in available) on a unit listed for 90+ days — the seller is motivated. Negotiation room exists.
- "陽当たり良好" (good sunlight) with no south-facing photos — usually means morning or afternoon only.
- "駅近" (close to station) — SUUMO calculates 1 minute = 80 meters, walking, ignoring traffic lights and elevation. A "8-minute walk" up a hill in Bunkyo (文京区) is not the same as 8 minutes flat in Koto (江東区).
What missing photos mean
If a listing has 15 photos but none of the kitchen, bathroom, or building exterior — those rooms or surfaces are the problem. We assume so until shown otherwise. Ask for them before scheduling a viewing. If the agent refuses or delays, that itself is information.
Cross-checking the price
A SUUMO asking price is not a reference estimate. It is what the seller hopes to get. To form your own view, triangulate.
Sources beyond SUUMO
- Land General Information System (土地総合情報システム) run by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (国土交通省). Shows actual transaction prices by district and quarter, anonymized.
- REINS Market Information (レインズ・マーケット・インフォメーション) — the public-facing slice of REINS. Shows closed condo transactions with building age, area, and price per m².
- Athome (アットホーム) and Homes (ホームズ) — same listing universe, different presentation. Sometimes a listing is on one and not the others, which tells you which agency holds the mandate.
For any unit you are serious about, pull the last 8 quarters of transactions in the same ward, same station band, same age band, same area band. Calculate the median ¥/m². Compare to the SUUMO asking. A 10–15% gap above median is normal seller optimism. A 25%+ gap is either a special unit or a fishing expedition.
This is the kind of analysis result we produce at RE : public for clients before they make an offer. The data is public. The discipline to actually do it is the rare part.
Days on market — the hidden field
SUUMO does not display how long a listing has been up. It shows "新着" (new) for 7 days, then "情報更新" (information updated) — which agencies refresh weekly to reset the visual freshness, even when nothing has changed.
To estimate true age:
- Save the listing URL the first time you see it. Check weekly.
- Use the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine on the building's listings.
- Ask the agent directly: "媒介契約はいつからですか" (When did the listing mandate start?). Under Japanese law, exclusive mandates (専任媒介・専属専任媒介) must be reported to REINS within 5–7 days. The agent can tell you.
A unit on the market for 4+ months in central Tokyo with no price reduction has a story. Sometimes the story is a stubborn seller. Sometimes it is a defect — neighbor dispute, sun-blocking construction planned next door, management association issues (管理組合トラブル). You want to know which before you offer.
The management report you must request
Before any serious offer, request the 重要事項調査報告書 (important matter investigation report) from the management company. This document — not the SUUMO listing — tells you:
- Current balance of the repair reserve fund
- Long-term repair plan (長期修繕計画) and its funding gap
- Any pending special assessments
- Outstanding fees on the specific unit
- Any ongoing litigation involving the management association
- Pet rules, renovation rules, sublet rules
Listings will say "ペット可" (pets OK). The report will tell you the actual size and species limits. Listings will say nothing about whether the building is mid-way through a ¥200M roof replacement debate. The report will.
This document costs ¥3,000–¥10,000 to issue and the seller's agent should obtain it on request. If they resist, that is also information.
A skeptic's checklist before you inquire
Before you click "お問い合わせ" on any SUUMO listing, work through this:
- Land right confirmed (所有権 vs 借地権)
- Building permit date checked against 1981 line if relevant
- Total monthly cost calculated, not just price
- Repair reserve per m² compared to building age
- ¥/m² compared to last 8 quarters of REINS transactions
- Listing duplicates checked across SUUMO, Athome, Homes
- Days-on-market estimated
- Missing photos identified
- South/east exposure verified, not assumed
- Walk time from station verified on foot or on map, not from listing
If you cannot answer six of these ten, you are not ready to inquire. You are ready to research.
Where the second opinion comes in
Reading SUUMO well takes time most working buyers do not have. The Japanese property market also rewards local context that does not appear in any listing — which buildings have a reputation for difficult management associations, which streets flood, which districts are quietly losing population despite Tokyo's overall stability.
At RE : public we provide an independent second opinion. We do not sell properties. We do not take referral fees from agencies. We read the listing, pull the comparable transactions, request the management documents, and give you a written analysis result with the risks ranked. You make the decision.
This is not investment advice. The final decision is yours.