Miki Shoji announced on July 7 that office rents for commercial properties in central Tokyo have fallen 4% in the past 12 months and are now at the lowest levels ever seen since data collection began.

A major contributing factor to this fall are the companies who are seeing lower earnings as a result of the March 11 Tohoku disaster and can no longer pay high rent for their office space.

Data from recent economic conditions as well as over 2400 transactions in Tokyo’s 5 central wards of Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya, has shown that the office rent for 2011 has fallen below the standard level set in 1985 when data collection began.

With rents falling, it has been forecasted that the vacancy rates may improve slightly. The vacancy rate for 2011 was 8.8% compared with 8.9% in 2010.

Source:
The Asahi Shimbun, July 7, 2011.

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