Building Assets While Repaying: What is the Reality of Households Pursuing Two Goals?
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank's research institute released a survey showing that about 50% of households with pair loans are simultaneously building assets, demonstrating a more planned approach and higher savings levels than single-loan households.
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- 📰 Published: April 28, 2026 at 18:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 28, 2026 at 10:01
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 28, 2026 at 10:09 (7 min after Collected)
The 'Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management Research Institute' (Director: Tomoo Maruoka), established by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited, conducted an independent questionnaire survey of 10,000 people (ages 18–69) in January 2026 and released the analysis results.
In 'Single Loans vs. Increasing Pair Loans: A Comparison of Transitions and Realities,' the institute confirmed the characteristics and commonalities of single-loan and pair-loan households, focusing on household conditions and mortgage borrowing methods. While pair-loan households have larger loan amounts compared to single-loan households in the same income bracket, they also showed a more planned attitude toward home acquisition, such as diversifying information gathering and preparing a certain amount of self-funding.
But what happens 'after' these households take out a mortgage? To what extent are they able to build assets while continuing to make mortgage repayments? This report organizes the characteristics of household behavior and awareness by loan type, focusing on the coexistence of mortgage repayment and asset formation.
1. Formulation of Life Plans and Efforts Toward Asset Formation
First, we confirmed the status of life plan formulation, which is the foundation of asset formation. The more recent the mortgage borrowing, the higher the percentage of respondents answering that they have 'formulated' or 'somewhat formulated' a life plan across all loan types (Figure 1). In recent years, it seems more households are considering home purchase not as a single life event, but including subsequent household management and life design.
This tendency is particularly prominent among pair-loan households. Since 2016, the percentage of those formulating life plans has risen significantly, reaching 49.6% in the 2021–2025 period—about 10 percentage points higher than single-loan households in the same period.
Furthermore, households working on asset formation in parallel with mortgages (referred to as the 'balancing group') have also been on the rise in recent years (Figure 2). While the balancing group is increasing among single-loan households as well, for pair-loan households, the percentage reached 50.0% in the 2021–2025 period, showing that household management that advances both mortgage repayment and asset formation simultaneously is becoming widespread to some extent.
2. The Reality of Balancing as Seen from Asset Formation Amounts and System Usage
Looking at the distribution of asset formation amounts, characteristics differ between single-loan and pair-loan households. When divided into households with annual incomes of less than 7 million yen and 7 million yen or more, for the category under 7 million yen, the '10,000 yen to less than 500,000 yen' segment was the most common for single-loan households, with the proportion gradually decreasing as the amount increased (Figure 3).
On the other hand, for pair-loan households, the '500,000 yen to less than 1 million yen' segment was the most common, placing the center of asset formation at a slightly higher level compared to single-loan households. Additionally, the surrounding segments like '10,000 to less than 500,000 yen' and '1 million to less than 2 million yen' are distributed at almost identical proportions.
Furthermore, the percentage of those forming more than 2 million yen in assets annually was 26.6% for pair-loan households, 7.6 percentage points higher than the 19.0% for single-loan households. This shows that many pair-loan households are able to work on asset formation at a higher level even with the same household income. These trends were also confirmed in the category of household incomes of 7 million yen or more.
What is the purpose of asset formation for each household? When confirming the primary purpose, 'for retirement funds' significantly exceeded other items for both single-loan and pair-loan households (Figure 4). The ranking of items from second place downward was also the same for both loan types. Conversely, the percentage of those saying they have 'no particular purpose' was a minority—9.2% for single-loan and 6.3% for pair-loan households—indicating that since they are balancing both, most households are doing so with some purpose in mind.
In 'Single Loans vs. Increasing Pair Loans: A Comparison of Transitions and Realities,' the institute confirmed the characteristics and commonalities of single-loan and pair-loan households, focusing on household conditions and mortgage borrowing methods. While pair-loan households have larger loan amounts compared to single-loan households in the same income bracket, they also showed a more planned attitude toward home acquisition, such as diversifying information gathering and preparing a certain amount of self-funding.
But what happens 'after' these households take out a mortgage? To what extent are they able to build assets while continuing to make mortgage repayments? This report organizes the characteristics of household behavior and awareness by loan type, focusing on the coexistence of mortgage repayment and asset formation.
1. Formulation of Life Plans and Efforts Toward Asset Formation
First, we confirmed the status of life plan formulation, which is the foundation of asset formation. The more recent the mortgage borrowing, the higher the percentage of respondents answering that they have 'formulated' or 'somewhat formulated' a life plan across all loan types (Figure 1). In recent years, it seems more households are considering home purchase not as a single life event, but including subsequent household management and life design.
This tendency is particularly prominent among pair-loan households. Since 2016, the percentage of those formulating life plans has risen significantly, reaching 49.6% in the 2021–2025 period—about 10 percentage points higher than single-loan households in the same period.
Furthermore, households working on asset formation in parallel with mortgages (referred to as the 'balancing group') have also been on the rise in recent years (Figure 2). While the balancing group is increasing among single-loan households as well, for pair-loan households, the percentage reached 50.0% in the 2021–2025 period, showing that household management that advances both mortgage repayment and asset formation simultaneously is becoming widespread to some extent.
2. The Reality of Balancing as Seen from Asset Formation Amounts and System Usage
Looking at the distribution of asset formation amounts, characteristics differ between single-loan and pair-loan households. When divided into households with annual incomes of less than 7 million yen and 7 million yen or more, for the category under 7 million yen, the '10,000 yen to less than 500,000 yen' segment was the most common for single-loan households, with the proportion gradually decreasing as the amount increased (Figure 3).
On the other hand, for pair-loan households, the '500,000 yen to less than 1 million yen' segment was the most common, placing the center of asset formation at a slightly higher level compared to single-loan households. Additionally, the surrounding segments like '10,000 to less than 500,000 yen' and '1 million to less than 2 million yen' are distributed at almost identical proportions.
Furthermore, the percentage of those forming more than 2 million yen in assets annually was 26.6% for pair-loan households, 7.6 percentage points higher than the 19.0% for single-loan households. This shows that many pair-loan households are able to work on asset formation at a higher level even with the same household income. These trends were also confirmed in the category of household incomes of 7 million yen or more.
What is the purpose of asset formation for each household? When confirming the primary purpose, 'for retirement funds' significantly exceeded other items for both single-loan and pair-loan households (Figure 4). The ranking of items from second place downward was also the same for both loan types. Conversely, the percentage of those saying they have 'no particular purpose' was a minority—9.2% for single-loan and 6.3% for pair-loan households—indicating that since they are balancing both, most households are doing so with some purpose in mind.