[localhostdotdev]

wouldn't that be a sign of a healthy housing market? (e.g. liquidity)

if 99%-100% of homes were occupied then it would reach saturation (hard to buy/rent homes)

[mdorazio]

That's still high for a "healthy" level of vacancy, and it's also assuming those vacancies are in areas where people want to live. In reality, most of this housing stock is in smaller towns people are leaving while available housing in Tokyo is not exactly plentiful.