Rental apartment developer under fire for not complying with building code
Leopalace21 Corporation, a developer and manager of rental flats across Japan, has apologized after more of their apartment buildings were found to potentially violate the Building Standards Act. According to the company’s statement on May 29, several buildings in their ‘Apaato 6 Series’ of rental flats built between 1996 and 2009 were constructed without the required fire prevention and sound proofing walls. The company's share price dropped by up to 14% on the morning of May 30.
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Tokyo Apartment Sales in May 2018
The following is a selection of apartments that were reported to have sold in central Tokyo during the month of May 2018:Read more
Toshiba sells historic residence in Shinagawa
Furniture company Nitori Holdings has acquired a historic residence in Tokyo from Toshiba. The home, which was used by Toshiba as a reception hall for guests, sits on a sprawling 6,400 sqm of grounds in the Nishi-oi address in Shinagawa.
The traditional Japanese house was built in 1941 for Keitaro Miho, the president of Japanese record label Nippon Columbia. It was transferred to Toshiba in 1953. The site was originally part of a larger castle-like estate, with some parts of the original foundation walls said to be remaining within Toshiba’s grounds.Read more
Forecast of new apartment prices in Tokyo from 2018 onwards
The Japan Real Estate Institute (JREI) has issued an updated medium-term forecast for the price of brand new apartments in Tokyo’s 23 wards over the next seven years. Price predictions have been revised updwards from last year’s forecast. In 2018, average new apartment prices are expected to be 994,000 Yen/sqm, up 0.5% from 2017 and 4.4% higher than their previous forecast.Read more
Kyoto City sees 4,500 new hotel rooms added in 2017
Kyoto City saw an additional 4,532 hotel/accommodation rooms added in 2017, putting the city’s total inventory above 38,000 rooms. In the past 12 months over 3,000 rooms have been opened in simple lodgings, which refers to guest houses and low-priced hostels. The growing number of foreign tourists to the former capital has been a driving force behind the new supply.
The city had 38,419 rooms as at the end of 2017, up 13.4% from 2016. Hotels make up the largest share with 23,899 rooms, up 6.5% from the previous year. Traditional ryokans dropped 0.8% to 5,273 rooms, while simple lodgings saw a 50% increase to 9,247 rooms. Kyoto City’s survey only covered licensed accommodation, with unlicensed, illegal rooms not included in the total count.Read more
Tokyo apartment asking prices in April 2018
According to Tokyo Kantei, the average asking price of a 70 sqm (753 sq.ft) second-hand apartment across greater Tokyo was 36,040,000 Yen in April, down 0.4% from the previous month but up 1.2% from last year. The average building age was 23.4 years.Read more