Whether buying off-plan in Japan is safe depends on the project, and the public record differs a lot between projects. Of the 14 projects we track, 29% publish a permit or licence number, 0% state deposit protection and 1 are past the first handover date on record.
We found 7 developer claims contradicted by another source out of 137 tested. This page reports facts; it is not a rating of any company.
Delivery record#
1 of 14 projects are past the first handover date on record (median 35 months). 4 projects have a first handover date more than six months in the past, the group used for the on-time odds on the delay index.
Dated promises (handover, construction start, permits): 22 tracked, 0 kept, 1 broken, 2 moved to a later date, 16 still ahead. How promises are tracked.
What developers make public#
| Check | Public | Confirmed by register or independent source |
|---|---|---|
| Permit or licence number | 29% (4) | 0 |
| Deposit protection | 0% (0) | 0 |
| Construction progress | 21% (3) | 2 |
| Site or floor plans | 14% (2) | 0 |
| Developer track record | 57% (8) | 3 |
| No guaranteed-return language | 100% (14) | 0 |
What protects a buyer#
The protections that exist on paper only help if the project uses them: a permit you can look up, payments into an escrow or protected account in the project name, and payments tied to construction milestones you can verify. How to check a project in Japan.
Questions and answers#
Is it safe to buy off-plan property in Japan?
It depends on the project. Of 14 projects tracked by Kolaboro in Japan, 29% publish a permit number, 0% state deposit protection and 1 are past the first handover date on record (data of 5 November 2026).
How often are off-plan handovers in Japan late?
1 of 14 tracked projects are past the first handover date on record, median 35 months.
How many developer claims in Japan turned out to be contradicted?
7 of 137 tested claims (5%) were contradicted by a register or independent source.
Are you the developer, or did we get something wrong? Send documents and we add your reply or correct the record: right of reply · corrections. Every figure here is computed from the open dataset (/data/bali-cases.json, CC BY 4.0) and changes when the data changes.