Former apartment building in Omotesando to be redeveloped into retail
The vintage Minami Aoyama 571 apartment building in Omotesando has been demolished to make way for a retail store. The former building was privately developed in 1988 with 4 apartments over 4 floors. Back in early 2015 a full floor apartment was listed for sale for approximately 270 million Yen - a relative steal since it included a 130 sqm share of the land. Unfortunately several of our clients passed on this opportunity. Not long after, the apartment owners appear to have sold the building and land at an undisclosed but potentially attractive price. It was demolished several months ago by the new owner - a large real estate developer.
Tokyo apartment asking prices see slight drop in September
According to Tokyo Kantei the average asking price of a 70 sqm (753 sq.ft) second-hand apartment across greater Tokyo was 36,360,000 Yen in September, down 0.1% from the previous month but up 2.3% from last year. The average building age was 24.1 years.
Ishikawa Prefecture’s most expensive apartments go on sale
The most expensive apartments developed in Ishikawa Prefecture since the end of the bubble era went on sale last week. The 114 apartments in The Residence Kanazawa will share the building with the Hyatt House Kanazawa hotel.
Apartments in the first round of sales were priced from 30.4 ~ 199.8 million Yen (approx. 270,000 ~ 1,775,000 USD). The largest apartment on offer is a 180.77 sqm (1,945 sq.ft), four-bedroom unit priced at 199.8 million Yen. The building is due for completion by April 2020.
New minpaku laws decidedly unpopular in Kyoto City
As at the end of August 2018, Kyoto City had only received 129 applications for short-term letting under the new minpaku laws that were introduced in June. Of those, 33 are located in exclusive residential zones where properties can only be rented out to guests for a maximum of 60 nights between January 15 and March 15, with some exceptions allowed for traditional machiya townhouses and homes where the host also lives on the premises. This pales in comparison to the total number of 7,028 applications made nationwide. In Kyoto Prefecture, excluding Kyoto City, only 18 applications have been received as at September 14.
Apartment rents in Tokyo increase for 10th month in a row
The average apartment rent in Tokyo’s 23 wards has increased year-on-year for the 10th month in a row. The average monthly rent in September was 3,504 Yen/sqm, up 6.6% from last year and up 1.2% from the previous month. Both Yokohama and Saitama cities saw a decline in year-on-year rents.