You might be one of many people who wonder, “Is room-share actually cheap?”
To begin from the conclusion, in many cases, room-share can save approximately ¥300,000 compared to living alone. Even a total amount for rent and initial costs is almost the same as living alone, in room-share, costs/expenses can be split by the number of people living together.
It’s possible to save up the difference from living alone by choosing room-share.
Having said that, it’s still unclear how cheap it is specifically.
So, in this article, we explain:
Expenses in case of a year-long room-share
Rent and initial costs for room-share and living alone
Pros and cons of room-share.
There are cons in room-share, but please refer to the ways of dealing with them we introduce later.
Is room-share cheap? Let’s calculate costs/expenses of living for a year!
When you wonder, “Is room-share actually cheap?”, we recommend you to calculate costs/expenses of living for a year,
Let’s calculate costs, assuming that you do room-share with your friend in a 2LDK apartment in Tokyo.
*A year’s worth of costs.
[Costs of a year-long room-share with a friend *per person]
Rent: ¥300,000 ~ ¥600,000
Initial costs: ¥250,000 ~ ¥300,000
Living expenses (food and daily necessities): ¥300,000 ~ ¥500,000
Total: ¥1,150,000 ~ ¥2,000,000
Initial costs include security deposit and key money, brokerage fee, payment in advance for rent of 1 ~ 3 months, expenses for home appliances, moving cost and such.
By the way, living expenses are not so different in room-share and living alone. Price you pay for food and daily necessities tends to be the same in many cases.
Next, we talk about rent and initial costs in room-share and living alone.
[Rent and utility costs in room-share are ¥636,000 cheaper than living in an apartment]
Let’s compare rent and utility costs of room-share and living alone in an apartment.
*The amount below is for per person.
[Rent (per month)]
- Living alone: ¥60,000 ~ ¥100,000 on average
- Room-share: ¥20,000 ~ ¥50,000 on average
- The difference: ¥35,000 ~ ¥50,000
[Utility costs (per month)]
- Living alone: ¥10,000 on average
- Room-share: ¥7,000 ~ ¥8,000 on average
- The difference: ¥2,000 ~ 3,000
If each difference is combined, the total difference is ¥47,000 ~ ¥53,000. The total amount through a year would be about ¥564,000 ~ ¥636,000.
The number per month might look small. But, in a year-long scale, it would be ¥636,000 cheaper at a maximum just by doing room-share with your friend.
[Initial costs for room-share are ¥250,000 ~ ¥300,000 cheaper than living in an apartment]
Let’s calculate initial costs next.
[Initial costs]
- Living alone: ¥500,000 ~ ¥600,000
- Room-share: ¥250,000 ~ ¥300,000
The total amount of ¥500,000 ~ ¥600,000 will be the same because most likely you start living in an apartment even if you choose either room-share or living alone.
However, in room-share, you can split the total costs by the number of people you live with. So, the more people you live with, the less money you would spend.
As a result, you might save up ¥300,000 at a maximum.
Please read through the following article about initial coats of room-share.
[Pros in room-share with your friend]
Main 5 pros in room-share with your friends are below:
- Cut living costs
- Less burden of housework by sharing it with your friend
- Feel safe since someone is in the house
- Feel less lonely
- Deepen friendship with your friend
We told that room-share can cut living expenses than living alone.
Other than that, there are many pros for mental health such as feeling less lonely. Anxiety and insecurity that you feel when you living alone will be mostly reduced.
[Cons in room-share with your friend]
Main 5 cons in room-share with your friends are below:
- You might argue with your friend because your friend forgets housework
- Daily life noise might stress you out if each other’s circadian rhythm is different
- Feel uncomfortable if you have an argument with your friend
- Difficult to have your friends or partner come over
- First of all, it’s tough to find an apartment that allows room-share
The sharing of housework is necessary since two people live together in an apartment. But, even if you decide who is in charge of which housework, your roommate might forget sometimes.
Moreover, there are many problems that are hard to be solved, e.g. it’s difficult to have your friends or partner come over, and also it’s tough to find an apartment that allows room-share.
After reading thought the article at this point, there might be people feeling, “Room-share is difficult…”
So, we introduce how to manage when you feel it’s hard to do room-share.
[Consider share house if room-share is difficult]
Share house is recommended when room-share is difficult.
Share house is a way of living that multiple people live in a house. While the number of people living together increases, housework is considered as each individual responsibility in share house. Cleaning is taken care by subcontractors in many cases so you don’t need to be worried about being in charge of housework.
Moreover, share house is easy to find compared to finding a house for room-share.
There are many share houses that you can move in with your friend so it’s recommended when you don’t know what to do.
We introduce rent and initial costs when moving in a share house.
How much is rent and initial costs for moving in a share house?
Rent and initial costs necessary for moving in a share house are as follows:
- Rent (per month): ¥50,000 ~ ¥80,000 on average
- Initial costs: ¥100,000 on average
When you look at the above, initial costs are very cheap. Security deposit and key money are not necessary for share house, and there is no brokerage fee for real estate. There are less categories of payment so that you can save hundreds of thousands of yen in total.
Please check the article below for more details about initial costs for share house.
Summery – You can enjoy living with your friends at a low cost if you choose room-share or share house
We explained if room-share is actually cheap or not this time.
To sum up, room-share can save the following expenses compared to living alone.
- Rent: ¥35,000 ~ ¥50,000 (¥560,000 ~ ¥636,000 throughout a year)
- Initial costs: ¥250,000 ~ ¥300,000
Moreover, we introduce 5 pros in room-share.
- Cut living costs
- Less burden of housework by sharing it with your friend
- Feel safe since someone is in the house
- Feel less lonely
- Deepen friendship with your friend
Please consider share house if you feel impossible to find an apartment for room-share.
If you are thinking, “I want to live in a share house, but what kind of share houses are there…,” please check recommended share houses from the following link.
