Village House

What Village House does

Village House (ビレッジハウス) is a privately held Japanese residential rental operator headquartered in Tokyo that owns and manages a portfolio of more than 1,000 buildings comprising over 100,000 rooms across all 47 prefectures of Japan. Founded in 2016, the company targets budget-conscious tenants — including students, new graduates, families, welfare recipients, and foreign residents — by offering furnished-to-spec apartments and condominiums (configurations from 1R/1K to 3DK/3LDK) at monthly rents starting from approximately ¥20,000, while structurally eliminating the four standard Japanese rental upfront costs: 敷金 (key money), 礼金 (gift money), 更新料 (renewal fees), and 仲介手数料 (brokerage fees).

The company's core technology is an online rental property search and lease platform (villagehouse.jp) that supports area- and station-based search, keyword filtering, and electronic application and contract processing. It is served by a toll-free nationwide call center (0120-266-078) and a multilingual customer support function covering Japanese, English, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Indonesian, Nepali, and Burmese. Ancillary offerings include monthly parking rentals (月極駐車場), a corporate housing service (借り上げ社宅) for companies housing employees, pet-friendly properties, and the multilingual Village Blog content platform covering apartment living, moving tips, interior design, and local area guides.

The business operates a direct-to-consumer, broker-free rental model (直接賃貸) in which the company acts as landlord and lessor, collecting monthly rent typically via bank account automatic withdrawal (口座振替). Revenue is recurring subscription-like monthly rent across the owned portfolio, with cleaning fees of ¥1,120/m² on move-out and tiered early-termination penalties (3 months' rent within 12 months; 2 months' rent within 24 months) on 2-year contracts. Distribution is entirely digital and direct: the company website, call center, and content properties, with no disclosed brokerage channel or third-party listing partners.

Name

Village House

Legal name

VILLAGE HOUSE

Website

https://villagehouse.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Village House is a Japanese residential rental operator owning 1,000+ buildings and 100,000+ rooms across all 47 prefectures, offering furnished apartments from ¥20,000/month with no key money, gift money, renewal fees, or brokerage fees to budget-conscious tenants including students, foreign residents, and welfare recipients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Residential Property Rental

NAICS

Lessors of Real Estate (5311), Rental and Leasing Services (532)

SIC

Operators Of Apartment Buildings (6513)

akta.pro primary industry

Multifamily Apartment Property Management (BPAJAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Affordable Housing Property Management (BPAJAGAJ)

Keywords

• Residential property rental
• Apartment leasing
• Affordable housing
• Property management
• Direct rental services

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Residential Property Rental: Village House generates revenue through monthly residential property rentals. The company owns and manages a portfolio of apartments and condominiums across all 47 prefectures of Japan, offering units ranging from 1R/1K to 3DK/3LDK configurations. Rent is collected monthly, with payment typically through bank account automatic withdrawal (口座振替). The business differentiates by eliminating key money (敷金),礼金 (gift money), renewal fees (更新料), and brokerage fees (仲介手数料) — standard costs in the Japanese rental market — allowing lower overall initial moving costs for tenants.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Village House owns and manages a nationwide portfolio of affordable residential apartments and condominiums across all 47 prefectures of Japan, leasing them directly to tenants through its own website and call center. Rent starts from ¥20,000/month, and the company differentiates by eliminating key money, gift money, renewal fees, and brokerage fees, while also providing multilingual customer support and electronic application/contract processing. The offering is complemented by monthly parking rentals, corporate housing solutions for employee accommodation, and a content blog.

Product overview

Village House is a rental property platform offering affordable apartments and condominiums across all 47 prefectures of Japan. The core offering is the rental property search and listing service, featuring over 1,000 properties with more than 100,000 rooms starting from 20,000 yen/month. Key differentiators include no key money (礼金), no security deposit (敷金), no renewal fees (更新料), and no brokerage fees (手数料). The platform is complemented by the Village Blog content site, monthly parking rental services, and corporate housing solutions. The company provides multi-language customer support in Japanese, English, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Indonesian, Nepali, and Burmese to serve international residents.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Village House Rental Property Platform Online nationwide platform for searching and leasing Village House's own portfolio of affordable rental apartments and condominiums across all 47 prefectures of Japan, with units from 1R/1K to 3DK/3LDK and rents starting from ¥20,000/month. No key money, no gift money, no renewal fees, and no brokerage fees; no guarantor required (subject to contract and screening).
• Monthly Parking Rental (月極駐車場) Monthly parking space rental service for Village House residents who own vehicles, with parking available at properties throughout Japan.
• Corporate Housing (借り上げ社宅) Corporate housing service for companies seeking accommodation solutions for their employees, particularly foreign workers, leveraging Village House's no-upfront-cost and multilingual model.

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Leopalace21: One of Japan's largest apartment rental operators, with a heavy focus on budget and corporate/contract-worker housing. Closely comparable to Village House in target customer (budget renters, foreign workers), product type (nationwide apartment portfolio), and zero/low-fee positioning.
• Daito Trust Construction: Japan's largest apartment rental management and construction company, managing millions of units under the 'Leopalace' and 'Daito' brands. Directly comparable business model — large-scale multifamily rental management with nationwide reach — though Daito Trust also acts as a builder.

Broad incumbents

• UR (Urban Renaissance Agency): Government-backed housing corporation that rents nationwide apartment stock (UR housing) at below-market rents. Directly competes with Village House in the affordable rental segment, though typically in urban areas and as a public-sector incumbent.
• Daiwa House Industry: Japan's largest homebuilder and a major multifamily rental operator (D-ROOM, LivCity brands). Comparable in scale and multifamily rental focus, though broader portfolio spans logistics, commercial, and international real estate.
• Sumitomo Realty & Development: Large Japanese real estate developer with a substantial multifamily rental portfolio across Tokyo and other major cities. Comparable in scale and nationwide presence, though more focused on premium urban rental segments than budget housing.
• Greystar Real Estate Partners: Global multifamily rental operator and investment manager with ~800,000 units under management. Comparable in business model (large-scale rental operation with standardized operating platform) and in targeting both individual and corporate/relocation renters.
• Mitsubishi Estate: Major Japanese real estate developer with a large multifamily rental portfolio. Comparable as a major Japanese landlord, though more weighted toward premium office and luxury residential than the budget segment Village House targets.
• Vonovia: Europe's largest residential real estate company, managing ~500,000 apartments across Germany, Austria, and Sweden. Comparable in business model (large-scale landlord operating standardized rental housing) and in scale of portfolio.
• Equity Residential: Major U.S. multifamily REIT owning/operating ~80,000 apartment units in gateway U.S. cities. Comparable in scale of rental portfolio and standardized operating model, though focused on urban luxury rentals rather than budget segment.

Emerging players

• Tokyu Housing Lease: Rental management subsidiary of the Tokyu Group, operating a portfolio of managed apartments primarily in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Comparable in business model (third-party rental management) but smaller scale and more geographically concentrated than Village House.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/VillageHouseJP
• Instagraminstagram.com/villagehousejp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/villagehouse

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Village House