A TikTok star is making thousands a month buying abandoned Japanese houses – and renovating them into beautiful short-term rentals in tourist hotspots.        

Anton Wormann, 32, who is originally from Sweden, moved to Japan in October 2018 and soon learned about the millions of abandoned homes across the country.

The first ‘akiya’ he encountered had belonged to his neighbour in Sangenjaya, Tokyo. It was close to 100 years old, and had been abandoned for a decade. 

Mr Wormann, who also works as a model, purchased this property for around eight million yen (£40,000) – but there are ‘akiyas’ selling for as little as £7,000 elsewhere.

He spent 15 months renovating the three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom home, which now costs £1,261 to rent for a minimum of three nights on Airbnb.

Anton Wormann, 32, who is originally from Sweden , moved to Japan in October 2018

And the 86-year-old property is typically booked out, meaning it brings in around £11,000 for Mr Wormann each month.

The renovation of ‘akiyas’ has recently gained momentum on TikTok, with dozens of creators from outside of Japan boasting about the reasonable property prices.

It is thought there are around nine million abandoned homes across the country, largely due to Japan’s falling population and rapidly decreasing birth rate.

This sank to a record low of 1.2 births per woman in 2023.

This, coupled with an aging population making up 30% of the country, had led to somewhat of a demographic crisis in Japan.

Death rates now surpass birth rates, and – unusually – there are more homes than necessary for the declining population. 

Mr Wormann told CNBC he had read articles about the ‘akiyas’, and became ‘fascinated’ by the phenomenon. 

One of Anton Wormann’s seven renovated abandoned homes in Japan before and after

The homes are finished to a high standard, with Scandinavian interior style mixed with Japanese

He said: ‘I never really understood how big of a problem, and also for me, how big of an opportunity it was until I actually moved here, learned Japanese and got integrated into society.

‘Making something beautiful takes time … and it becomes something that no one else can replicate,’ he said. 

‘Like to create something really, really good that you’re very proud of — it just makes me very happy.’

However, the reality might not be quite as positive as TikTok makes it seem.

Although those like Mr Wormann, who have multiple properties and rent the renovated houses to tourists, are able to make money, there is still very low demand from locals.

After completing his first renovation, Mr Wormann caught the bug for fixing abandoned Japanese homes – and now owns eight properties in Japan

Pictured: Anton Wormann inside one of his eight Japanese properties, seven of which were ‘akiyas’

Japanese natives are less likely to buy a cheap, older house then a newer build.

Mr Wormann said he was ‘intimidated’ by his first project in Sangenjaya – which is just a four-minute train ride from the famous Shibuya Crossing.

‘I was definitely intimidated … and I’ve only seen it from outside, so I could have only imagined what it looked like from the inside,’ he added.

‘I expected it to be clean, empty [and] pretty tiny, but that wasn’t the case.’

After completing his first renovation, Mr Wormann caught the bug for fixing abandoned Japanese homes – and now owns eight properties in Japan.

Seven of these were once abandoned.