Aging Japan grapples with 8m empty homes and stashed cash

More than $200,000 found at a Tokyo demolition site was left unclaimed

20190428N empty house

This uninhabited house in Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku is being refurbished with help from Dutch students.

TOMOHIRO EBUCHI and SHOHEI NOMOTO, Nikkei staff writers

TOKYO -- As Japan's population ages rapidly, a record 13.6% of housing stands empty nationwide while developers shrug off flat demand and continue their building spree.

A record-breaking 8.46 million residences were unoccupied in 2018, according to a twice-a-decade housing survey released Friday by the central government. The number has grown by 260,000 since the last survey in 2013.

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