2015 – JAPAN PROPERTY CENTRAL K.K.

City in Hokkaido to buy mid-century bank building

Former Bank of Japan Kushiro 1 — The former bank shortly after completion in 1952. Image via Kushiro City Homepage.

Kushiro City in Hokkaido is moving ahead with plans to buy the former Bank of Japan Kushiro Branch in an effort to preserve the 63-year old building.

The city had earlier considered to converting the building for public use, but the estimated 1.5 billion Yen (12.4 million USD) repair bill proved too costly for the city's budget. However, if the city did not purchase the building there was a chance that it could be demolished. Ever since the Bank of Japan moved to a new location in 2013, local residents have petitioned for the preservation of the old building and had collected 10,000 signatures.Read more

by Zoe Ward

2015: The year in review

Let’s take a look back at Japan’s real estate market over the past 12 months.

Market Conditions

2015 remained a seller’s market with multiple offers made on properties, and popular listings selling out within days or weeks.

Supply was incredibly tight in the first half of the year. This goes for both existing properties and new construction. We have noticed a slight increase in new listings over the past few months, but at increasingly higher prices. Also a number of those new listings have been tenanted properties, which means they are sold with a tenant in place and cannot be inspected. These can only be purchased by investors, and can be a difficult sell. Transactions have also continued to climb, so a lot of the new supply is being met.

Demand for quality buildings is high, but we are seeing some price reductions on the low and mid-range properties as they start to reach their price ceiling.

Where is this demand coming from? Read more

by Zoe Ward

New apartment supply forecast to rise by 4.4% in 2016

The supply of brand new apartments to be released for sale in the greater Tokyo area in 2016 is forecast to reach around 43,000 units, up 4.4% from 2015.

Japan’s consumption tax rate will be raised to 10% from its current level of 8% in April 2017. This is expected to lead to a rush in last-minute demand from buyers seeking to lock in the purchase price at the lower tax rates. The deadline to lock in a new apartment under the lower tax rate will be for contracts signed up until September 30, 2016.

According to the Real Estate Economic Institute, the construction scandal concerning falsified data about building foundations has had less of an effect that originally anticipated, and is not expected to impact on forecasts for 2016.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Yokohama Station to see tallest building in 2021

Yokohama Tsuruya Project

Plans are firming up for a 180 meter tall high-rise residential tower near Yokohama Station specifically targeting foreign residents. This would be the first project to make use of the national government’s special allowance for residential building volume ratios that are available in Strategic Special Zones.

Draft plans have already received approval from the government and construction is scheduled to start in 2018, with completion in 2021.Read more

by Zoe Ward

$100 million resort for Kobe’s Mount Rokko

Rokkosan Resort 7

Nagoya-based Resorttrust, Inc. announced plans to open a members-only resort hotel in Kobe’s Rokkosan area. “XIV Rokko Sanctuary Villa” will be a 48-room resort with Japanese restaurant, bar, spa, and shops. It is scheduled to open in March 2018.

The resort has been designed by KKS Group, a specialist architectural firm that has designed numerous hotels around the world including several Shangri-La and Hilton Hotels, the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel in Shibuya, and the Capitol Hotel Tokyu in Tokyo. The design of the hotel is said to be the ‘Imperial Modern’ style which can be seen in some of the old and grand estates in Japan from the early 1900s. Frank Lloyd Wright’s former Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, and the former Maeda Residence in Meguro were said to be the inspiration behind the design.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Kawasaki City wants to curb supply of studio apartments

Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture is planning to introduce guidelines to limit the construction of small studio apartments. The city has seen a surge in development of ‘one-room’ apartment buildings and is concerned about the effects on local communities.

The new guidelines may increase the minimum apartment size from 18 sqm (194 sq.ft) to 25 sqm (269 sq.ft), and may require on-site building managers or caretakers. For a building with over 100 units, an on-site manager may be required, while smaller buildings may require a manager for a minimum set of hours per day or week. Garbage collection may be required daily. Developers, managers and residents may also be encouraged to join the local neighbourhood association. However, there will be no fines or penalties for failure to comply with the guidelines.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Apartment prices along Tokyo's Ginza Line

The following table shows the change in apartment prices along the Ginza Subway Line (Japan’s oldest subway line). This subway line runs from Shibuya to Asakusa and passes through several of the city’s prime residential and business districts, many of which have seen a boost in prices over the past few years.

The average price across all stations on the Ginza line was 1,000,000 Yen/sqm in 2015, up 19.8% from 2014. The average building age was 21.0 years, down from 23.6 years in 2014. The average apartment size was 56.35 sqm (606 sq.ft), down from 60.76 sqm in 2014.Read more

by Zoe Ward