New housing starts drop 4% in 2019
New housing starts across Japan in 2019 dropped 4.0% from the previous year to 905,123 units. This is the third year in a row to see a year-on-year decline. This was primarily due to a tightening on lending for investment-type apartment blocks after a widespread loan fraud scandal came to light in 2018.
Another real estate company facing mortgage fraud allegations
The Nikkei Shimbun newspaper broke the story of yet another real estate company that is alleged to have been signing up buyers for home loans on investment properties. The news caused the company's share price to plummet by as much as a third in the week following the news report.
Japanese developer aquires partial share of luxury Yoyogi rental
Real estate developer Rebita has acquired a partial ownership interest in luxury rental complex Grosvenor Place Kamizono-cho.
New guidelines to define stigmatized properties
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) is planning to create clear guidelines regarding the sale and rent of stigmatized properties. Currently, confusion and uncertainty about what is and isn’t a psychological impact have led to numerous disputes between tenants and landlords.
Blackstone buys back portfolio in largest real estate deal in Japan’s history
US equity firm Blackstone Group has paid around 300 billion Yen (approx. US$2.75 billion) to buy back a portfolio of real estate assets across Japan in what is the biggest single real estate transaction in the country’s history.
Tokyo Apartment Sales in January 2020
The following is a selection of apartments that were reported to have sold in central Tokyo during the month of January 2020:
Greater Tokyo sees net inflow in population for 24th year
The population of the greater Tokyo area (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba) saw a net inflow in 2019 of 148,783 new residents, a 6.4% improvement from 2018, and the 24th year in a row to see positive growth.