TOKYO: Dozens of Japanese companies are capitalising on a combination of satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to help them find abandoned houses that could be put up for sale, Kyodo News Agency reported.
A service provided by startup Where Inc. uses artificial intelligence (AI) trained on tens of thousands of photos to identify ageing roofs, based on characteristics such as rust and colour. Houses that are likely abandoned are marked on satellite imagery.
One of the users, Kotaro Yasue, recently found a two-storey wooden house and reached its owner through a real estate registry. It turned out that the house had been left unattended for more than 10 years, and the owner was at a loss as to how to dispose of it.
Yasue, who heads a house rental service company in the central Japanese prefecture of Gifu, agreed to buy the house for just one yen from the owner.
"Before I started using the service, I had to visit local real estate agents or check each site by myself," Yasue said.
The number of abandoned houses in Japan has been on an uptrend, with government data showing that there were around nine million in 2023.
According to Where, the AI service became available with the help of technology being developed by an entity affiliated with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to analyse craters on the Moon. It can also assist in finding land that can be used as parking lots or installation sites for solar panels.
The Tokyo-based company has already secured around 50 client companies since the full-scale launch of the service in 2024.
"We want to help (companies) make effective use of untapped real estate," an official said. - Bernama-Kyodo
