Tokyo Rent Report: April 2026

We analyzed 39,413 active rental listings across Tokyo’s 23 special wards in April 2026, sourced from four weekly scrapes of SUUMO, Homes.co.jp, and at Home. The story isn’t just where rents went — it’s where landlord terms changed. Adachi, March’s zero-key champion at 68%, dropped to 43% in April. Sumida held its 58% rate across every weekly read and now ties Koto for the crown. Full ward breakdown on the rent index.

Where are the cheapest 1K apartments in Tokyo?

The five cheapest wards for a 1K apartment (one room + kitchen, the most common layout for solo renters) all average under ¥90,000/month in April 2026. Adachi leads at ¥77,546, followed by Edogawa, Nerima, and Katsushika — all with under ¥90k average rents and 1,000+ active listings.

Adachi — ¥77,546/mo (1K) (1,351 listings)
Edogawa — ¥78,277/mo (1,055 listings)
Nerima — ¥83,591/mo (1,021 listings)
Katsushika — ¥86,228/mo (1,449 listings)
Suginami — ¥89,214/mo — but rising fast (+13.1% MoM)

Suginami’s +13.1% jump from March is the biggest 1K rent increase we’ve recorded in any ward over a single month. After four weekly reads with 907 data points, the trend is real, not sample noise. If you had Suginami on your budget shortlist, it’s leaving the budget tier.

Where are the most expensive Tokyo wards?

Five wards dominate the high end, all averaging over ¥130,000 for a 1K. Minato tops the list at ¥157,153/month — more than double the cheapest ward. The premium concentrates in the central business and embassy districts.

Minato — ¥157,153 (1K) · ¥314,551 (1LDK)
Shibuya — ¥142,877
Chuo — ¥138,286
Shinjuku — ¥136,248
Chiyoda — ¥135,236

The gap between Adachi and Minato is ¥79,607/month for the same 1K layout — over double. For 1LDK apartments, Minato’s ¥314,551 is nearly triple Katsushika’s ¥111,131. Compare any two wards side by side to see exactly what you trade for the price difference.

A note on Minato’s average: the median is ¥147,000. Luxury outliers pull the mean up 7%, so ¥147k is the more honest anchor for budget planning.

Where can you skip key money in Tokyo?

Key money (礼金 reikin) is a non-refundable “thank you” payment to the landlord — traditionally one month’s rent, with no return at lease end. Sumida and Koto tied at 58% zero-key in April, meaning more than half of listings in each ward waive the fee entirely. The “zero-key belt” runs through Tokyo’s old east/north wards.

Koto — 58% zero key money (2,952 listings, biggest in Tokyo)
Sumida — 58% (2,555 listings, newest buildings — 5yr avg)
Taito — 56% (2,480 listings)
Kita — 53% (2,117 listings)
Arakawa — 53% (2,106 listings)

Shinagawa also sits at 53%, making six wards over the 50% threshold — and they cluster geographically along Tokyo’s east/north belt. Koto is the standout: biggest supply pool in Tokyo, tied for best landlord terms, and 5-year-average building age. If you’re starting your search and want maximum flexibility, start there.

The reverse is also true: Nerima (25%) and Itabashi (35%) still charge key money on most listings. If you’re searching there, negotiate — mention that nearby wards waive it.

How much does it actually cost to move into a Tokyo apartment?

For an ¥80,000/month apartment with standard fees, the move-in total is around ¥398,000 — roughly five months’ rent upfront. In wards where zero key money is the norm, that drops by ¥80,000 immediately.

Fee	Standard	Adachi (43% zero-key)	Koto (58% zero-key)
First month’s rent	¥80,000	¥80,000	¥80,000
Deposit (敷金 shikikin)	¥80,000	¥80,000	¥80,000
Key money (礼金 reikin)	¥80,000	¥0	¥0
Agent fee (仲介手数料)	¥80,000	¥80,000	¥80,000
Guarantor (保証会社, 0.5mo)	¥40,000	¥40,000	¥40,000
Fire insurance + lock change	¥38,000	¥38,000	¥38,000
Total	¥398,000	¥318,000	¥318,000

A zero-key listing saves you ¥80,000 before you’ve even moved in. Combined with rent savings — Adachi at ¥77,546 vs Minato at ¥157,153 — your annual housing cost difference can exceed ¥1 million. The cost calculator lets you plug in a target rent and ward to see your real total.

What changed in April 2026 vs March?

Six wards saw notable shifts month-over-month, and the changes split into a clear pattern: central wards loosened their landlord terms, outer-east wards tightened.

Biggest 1K rent increases (April vs March):

Suginami +13.1% (¥78,881 → ¥89,214)
Katsushika +5.4% (¥81,774 → ¥86,228)
Shinjuku +4.5% (¥130,361 → ¥136,248)
Minato +3.3% (¥152,067 → ¥157,153)
Kita +2.9% (¥98,399 → ¥101,261)

Biggest 1K rent decreases:

Bunkyo -5.0% (¥126,496 → ¥120,153)
Nakano -4.5% (¥105,980 → ¥101,248)
Toshima -4.3% (¥113,300 → ¥108,478)
Shinagawa -4.1% (¥120,468 → ¥115,541)

Biggest landlord-term shifts (zero-key money rate):

Adachi 68% → 43% (-25pts) — March’s champion now mid-pack
Shinjuku 33% → 48% (+15pts) — central-ward landlord competition
Koto 69% → 58% (-11pts) — softened but still tied for #1
Nakano 21% → 31% (+10pts)

The Adachi shift is the most consequential: if you searched there in March based on the 68% zero-key rate, the picture changed sharply by April. Landlord terms can move 20+ points in a month — which is why static rent guides go stale fast.

What are the best mid-range Tokyo wards?

For renters who want quality of life without the central-ward premium, four wards hit the sweet spot of cost, convenience, and supply.

Kita — ¥101,261/mo (1K) · 53% zero-key · 2,117 listings. Tokyo’s best budget-and-volume combo this month. Akabane has direct Shinkansen access; the local shopping streets stay vibrant. Up +2.9% vs March but still cheap.

Arakawa — ¥100,042/mo (1K) · 53% zero-key · 2,106 listings. Kita’s near-identical twin on every metric. Nippori’s textile district and proximity to Yanaka’s temple streets give it character. Compare Kita vs Arakawa.

Sumida — ¥110,181/mo (1K) · 58% zero-key (best) · 2,555 listings · newest buildings in Tokyo (5yr avg). Slightly pricier than Kita but the most fee-flexible and youngest-stock ward in the city.

Taito — ¥118,165/mo (1K) · 56% zero-key · 2,480 listings · 5yr-avg buildings. Asakusa, Ueno, and the old shitamachi feel without breaking budget. Browse 1K listings in Taito.

Which Tokyo wards are foreigner-friendly?

Foreigner-friendliness depends on three factors: how many landlords explicitly accept non-Japanese tenants, how active the international community is, and how well-served the ward is by English-speaking real estate agents.

The wards in Tokyo’s zero-key belt — Koto, Sumida, Taito, Kita, Arakawa — combine flexible landlord terms with a steady inflow of international residents. Toshima and Shinjuku have established Chinese, Korean, and Southeast Asian communities. Minato is the embassy district and explicitly international, but expensive.

Even with the right ward, language is the practical barrier. The Japanese rental market runs on relationships and trust, and most listings are Japanese-only. Most agents won’t reply in English. The workarounds are well-known: foreigner-specialist agencies (GaijinPot, Realestate.co.jp, Tokyo Rent), bilingual real estate offices in central wards, and increasingly, AI-powered translation tools that can summarize Japanese listings on the fly.

Tools and data

Rent index — sortable table of all 23 wards
Compare any two wards side by side
Ward quiz — five questions narrow to a top-three fit
Cost calculator — move-in fee what-if

Disclosure: I built this site and a free Telegram bot (Tanu) on top of the same dataset. The data here is published independent of the bot.

Data source

This report is based on 39,413 listing observations from Tokyo’s 23 special wards, scraped from SUUMO, Homes.co.jp, and at Home in four weekly batches across April 2026. Rent figures are monthly averages of active listings; medians are reported alongside means where outlier-skew is meaningful. Zero-key-money percentages reflect the share of listings explicitly waiving 礼金 (reikin) at the time of observation. Dataset refreshed every Friday — public ward-level snapshot at /rent-index.