1.
owned home; one's own house
A house owned by the resident, as contrasted with a rental property (賃貸). The word appears regularly in housing surveys, real-estate advertisements, life-planning articles, and discussions of household finances. It implies a single-family home or detached house but is often extended to include owned condominiums.
持ち家に住んでいる。
I live in a house I own.
将来は持ち家を買いたい。
In the future, I'd like to buy my own home.
賃貸と持ち家、どちらが得か議論されている。
There's a debate over whether renting or owning a home is more economical.
若い世代の間では、無理をして持ち家を買わずに賃貸で暮らし続ける人も増えている。
Among the younger generation, more people are choosing to keep renting rather than stretching their finances to buy their own home.
持ち家 refers to a home owned by the person who lives in it, as opposed to a rented one.
FORMATION:
- 持つ ("to own, hold") + 家 ("house") → 持ち家
- The 持ち- prefix attaches to many words to mean "owned, in one's possession" (cf. 持ち物 "belongings," 持ち株 "the stock one holds").
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 持ち家を買う / 手に入れる: to buy / acquire one's own home
- 持ち家に住む: to live in an owned home
- 持ち家派: people who prefer owning over renting
- 持ち家率: home-ownership rate
- 持ち家か賃貸か: "owning or renting" — a stock phrase in lifestyle and finance writing
SIMILAR / RELATED TERMS:
- 賃貸: rental, leased property — the standard antonym
- 自宅: one's own home/residence — focuses on "my home" regardless of ownership; can refer to a rented apartment as long as it is where you live
- 一戸建て: detached house (single-family home) — often overlaps with 持ち家 but specifies the building type rather than ownership
- マイホーム: "my home" (loanword) — almost synonymous with 持ち家 in marketing copy, with a warmer, aspirational nuance
USAGE NOTES:
- The reading is {もちいえ}, not {もちか} or {もちや}. Some older or regional usage reads it as {もちや}, but {もちいえ} is now standard in mainstream media.
- In housing statistics, 持ち家 typically encompasses both detached homes and condominiums owned outright.
- For the broader concept of owning vs. renting in real estate, the common stock phrase is 持ち家か賃貸か ("to own or to rent"), seen in countless magazine articles and online debates.