The other day, LIFULL HOME’S, to which I belong, announced the 2022 version of the “City I Want to Borrow & City I Want to Buy” ranking. This time, from the analysis of this ranking data, I would like to explore the change in consciousness of “rental users” especially in the corona disaster. In “Part 2”, we will explore the ranking of each area other than the metropolitan area and its background, and consider user psychology.
Leasing needs in the center of the city outside the Tokyo metropolitan area
The ranking of “towns I want to rent and live in” outside the metropolitan area has hardly changed since before Corona. It can be said that this “no change” also shows the difference in the structure of the metropolitan area in the Corona disaster.
[Kinki area]
In the Kinki area’s “city to rent and live” ranking, “Sannomiya”, which had been running alone for 5 consecutive years, was 2nd, and instead, “Esaka” on the Subway Midosuji Line emerged from 5th place last time. I won the place. The adjacent “Shin-Osaka” was also ranked 4th, and in fact, the bed town on the north side of Osaka Station became the No. 1 town to rent and live in. In 3rd place, 4th place “Himeji” entered last time, and there was no big change in the top 3 faces.
The main residential needs of “rental users” in the Kinki area have been almost unchanged from Kobe city and Osaka city center for the past few years. In other words, Corona has almost no effect on the “city you want to live in”. The result is in contrast to the metropolitan area.
“Esaka”, which ranked first, is “Shin-Osaka” where the Shinkansen and the Subway Midosuji Line intersect, so it is easy to access the center of Osaka, and it is also convenient to move from Osaka. It is an area with a large influx of singles from the area. In the Kinki area, the needs for living in the center of the city are still stronger than in the suburbs, and the needs are concentrated in the central areas of Osaka and Kobe, where transportation is convenient and proximity to work and residence is easy to realize.
[Chubu area]
In the ranking of “towns I want to rent and live in” in the Chubu region, “Gifu” has been ranked number one for four consecutive years, making it unwavering in popularity. The 2nd and 3rd places are “Toyohashi” and “Okazaki” as before, and the best 3 are monopolized by satellite cities other than Nagoya city.
The 1st place “Gifu” became popular as a commuter town with 20 minutes by rapid train to “Nagoya”. Moreover, in recent years, rents in Nagoya City have been at a high level, and prices and rents are low, so it seems that support is further increasing. The reason for “Toyohashi” in 2nd place and “Okazaki” in 3rd place is expected to be almost the same as “Gifu”. The difference in ranking is thought to be mainly due to the difference in the time required to reach “Nagoya” and the cost.
Compared to the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Kinki area, the Chubu area is even more compact, which has the advantage of making it easier to achieve close proximity to work and residence. Even so, the reason why a certain number of “rental users” favor “Gifu,” “Meitetsu Gifu,” “Toyohashi,” and “Okazaki” rather than Nagoya city is due to differences in rent levels.
[Kyushu area]
In the Kyushu area (Fukuoka prefecture), “Hakata” won the first place for the fifth consecutive year in the “City I want to rent and live in” ranking. 2nd place “Nishitetsu Hirao” and 3rd place “Takamiya” also kept their rankings for the second consecutive year.
“Hakata” is characterized by its outstanding business agglomeration and transportation convenience. In addition to JR lines such as the Kagoshima Main Line and the Subway Airport Line, it is the starting point of the Shinkansen and has many buses. Due to this outstanding transportation convenience, many of the companies that have their head offices in Kyushu have offices around Hakata, and there are many rental properties for workers in the vicinity, which is also the number one factor for five consecutive years.
In addition, each station on the Nishitetsu Tenjin Omuta Line, such as “Nishitetsu Hirao,” “Takamiya,” “Ohashi,” and “Ijiri,” which occupy 2nd to 5th place, is ranked high. This is due to the good balance between rent and transportation convenience, such as the fact that the rent level along the railway line is cheap and that you can access the center of Fukuoka city by bus.
At each station on the subway airport line, “Meinohama,” “Higashi-Hie,” “Nishijin,” “Ohori Park,” etc. are ranked high, and rental needs are concentrated along the subway airport line and Nishitetsu line centered on “Hakata.” doing.
Why is the situation in the metropolitan area and outside the metropolitan area so different?
In this way, while rental users are increasingly willing to live in the suburbs in the Tokyo metropolitan area, in the Kinki area, Chubu area, and Kyushu area (Fukuoka prefecture), the intention to stay close to work and residence in the center of the city is maintained. I found out that. In 2019, before the corona, there was almost the same tendency in all four areas, but why did corona cause such “suburbanization” only in the metropolitan area?
It is thought that this is due to the relatively large difference in the situation between the metropolitan area and the non-metropolitan area.
First, most of the people infected with the new coronavirus are concentrated in the Tokyo metropolitan area and Tokyo, and many of the companies headquartered in Tokyo following the rapid infection explosion have been requested by the national government and Tokyo. We are implementing measures to promote and continue telework.
The telework implementation rate in Tokyo was 56.4% as of January 2022, and there is no clear survey material in Osaka Prefecture. According to the material released by the Headquarters for Productivity, it is slightly over 20%. Therefore, it is clear that there is a difference in the telework implementation rate. It seems that the way of thinking about relocation is reflected in the fact that the working style has hardly changed from before Corona in the Kinki area and other areas, while the working style has actually changed significantly due to the corona disaster.
Regarding telework, the implementation rate and retention rate also differ depending on the type of business and the size of employees. For example, some studies have shown that the information / communications and finance / insurance industries are relatively high, and that companies with larger employees have higher telework implementation rates. The fact that many of these companies are headquartered in Tokyo also influences the difference in telework implementation rates.
Next is the difference in scale from the metropolitan area.
In the case of the metropolitan area, even if you extend from the city center to the suburbs by train for about an hour, there is no big difference in the living area, and the convenience is not extremely inferior. On the other hand, in the Kinki area and Chubu area, if you extend to the suburbs for about an hour, you cannot overlook the fact that the living area itself will change.
Furthermore, in the case of the metropolitan area, there is a relatively large difference in housing rent or property price between the city center and the suburbs. On the other hand, outside the metropolitan area, the rent and property prices in the center of the city are relatively low, so the disparity is small, and therefore the economic advantage of moving to the suburbs is not great.
It is thought that these factors combine to make a big difference in the sense of housing and how to live in the metropolitan area and areas other than the metropolitan area.
Should the corona wreck change into a “new normal” life? Or it can be said that the question is whether we should continue our current life with the image of returning to the front of Corona.
(Zhongshan Dengzhilang)