On August 13, discount retail giant Don Quijote Holdings announced plans for a high-rise retail, office and hotel building to replace their former Shibuya Store in downtown Tokyo. Land readjustment work is scheduled to start next month with the new building scheduled for completion in April 2022.
Furniture company Nitori Holdings is entering the boutique hotel industry with the acquisition of a historic hot spring hotel in Hokkaido’s port city of Otaru. The sale price has not been disclosed.
Ginrinsou has long been considered one of Hokkaido’s leading onsen inns. The three-story ryokan sits on a prominent hilltop location overlooking Otaru’s port district and Ishikari Bay. An additional five-story concrete building was added to the ryokan at a cost of 400 million Yen, bringing the total floor space up to 3000 sqm. Nightly room rates at the 14-room ryokan are around 37,000 Yen per person.
According to the Real Estate Economic Institute, 2,986 brand new apartments were released for sale across greater Tokyo in July, up 12.3% from the previous month but down 12.8% from last year. This is the first time that the supply for the month of July has fallen below 3,000 units since 1992.
The average sale price was 61,910,000 Yen, down 0.8% from the previous month and down 5.7% from last year. The average price per square meter was 917,000 Yen, down 1.2% from the previous month and down 3.7% from last year.
On August 7, Hankyu Hanshin Holdings announced plans to open a 1,000 room hotel in Yodobashi Umeda Tower – a 35-storey redevelopment adjacent to the Yodobashi electronics store in Umeda, Osaka. The first 8 floors of the building will be retail, with the hotel located on floors 9 and above. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2020, with the lower-floor retail to open in late 2019. This will be the largest hotel based on room count in Osaka City.
A house and land in Tokyo’s Motoazabu address sold for 1.16 billion Yen (approx. 10.5 million USD) at a public auction last month. The sale, conducted by Osaka City, attracted seven bidders, including one well-known developer. The City had set a reserve price of 673,261,700 Yen.
On August 9th, Kanazawa City announced a record number of contracts between Kanazawa-style machiya townhouse owners and buyers and tenants in 2017. A total of 12 contracts were signed in 2017.
The program is run by the city through their Kanazawa Machiya Information Center, which connects owners and agents with people looking to utilize the historic homes.
According to REINS, 3,139 second-hand apartments were sold across greater Tokyo in July, down 5.4% from the previous month and down 5.0% from last year. The average sale price was 33,620,000 Yen, up 1.3% from the previous month and up 6.4% from last year. The average price per square meter was 521,300 Yen, up 0.4% from the previous month and up 5.4% from last year. This is the 67th month in a row to record a year-on-year increase in prices.
Kashiwa City in Chiba Prefecture is embarking on a plan to reinvigorate the area around Kashiwa Station and double the local resident population. By 2040 it is hoped that up-and-coming redevelopment projects will see residential floor space increase to 550,000 sqm, double the current level, along with neighborhood population doubling to 17,000.
The city will be encouraging the construction of mixed-use high-rise buildings that include residential, office and retail to attract both residents and workers. The current share of retail and commercial space is expected to be maintained, while the share of residential will be boosted to 47%.
Last month, Tokyo Kantei released their annual report on resale values of apartments across greater Tokyo. The resale values, ranked by train station, represent the change in the value of an apartment in the 10 years following its construction.
It is important to note that 2007 was during the lead up to the last mini-bubble, which peaked in 2008. Areas that have seen an increase in resale values over the past 10 years tend to be in central Tokyo, particularly within the Yamanote Loop line, and in surrounding areas such as the bayside islands, Kawasaki and Yokohama. Meanwhile, Western Tokyo and surrounding prefectures performed poorly in the rankings.
A 225-meter tall, 40-storey tower is planned for the site of the former Shinjuku Tokyu Milano movie theatre in Kabukicho. Construction is expected to start in July 2019 with completion tentatively scheduled for 2022.
