Finding an Apartment in Niseko for the Season
We are really happy with our work on this piece about the lack of rental apartments in Niseko during the ski season that ran on Travel Daily News.
The background for the story starts with a very steady stream of requests, as tourist and seasonal workers ask us for help finding an “affordable apartment in Niseko.” We really see so many of those requests.
Here is a recent request we received after we wrote the post:
”I was wondering if you offer short term rentals (1-2 months). I am looking for a property in either Otaru, Hakodate, or Sapporo for that time frame starting around Feb. XX. Thank you.”
— Client request from November 2023
That is not an unreasonable request. But the problem is, Niseko wants to service a high-end clientele, and has very little focus on providing housing for anyone else. The local government tells visitors to talk to local real estate agents - but Niseko real estate agents are focused on high-end clients.
Niseko isn’t a proper year-round community. The peak ski season (December to March) draws most of the visitors - maybe 95% of the activity happens in those months.
In our piece, we tried to address this tension between creating a high-end ski destination resort, while also providing enough infrastructure to house the working class community to serve those high-end visitors.
We like this piece, as we did some proper "reporting” to tell a better story. We talked to the local government and asked questions. We took the responses, and asked local real estate professionals for comments. The process helped us understand the issue of seasonal housing in Niseko better (and also gives us a link we can send to our clients when they make these requests - which they certainly do).
As we talk about real estate in Niseko (and in Hokkaido, more generally) we want to do more and more of this in-depth, collaborative writing. The content is better when we tell a collective story, and bring together more than once voice on a given topic.
The lack of low-cost apartments in Niseko is a problem. The local government knows
it. The local orgs and real estate companies have some good solutions. But for now…
”No, you can’t have an apartment in Niseko for the Ski Season.”