Hong Kong fund backs out of historic hotel project in Kitakyushu
A Hong Kong fund has pulled out of a historic hotel conversion project in Kitakyushu’s Mojiko district due to fundraising difficulties. The project would have seen an 87-year old office building fully renovated and converted into a 90-room luxury boutique hotel scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2020.Read more
Two floors in Roppongi Hills sold to small-lot real estate fund
Small-lot real estate fund creator and operator, Financial Partners Group (FPG), has acquired the 18th and 21st floors in Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. This is the largest acquisition by FPG to date, and potentially the largest small-lot investment to go on offer.Read more
Recent reported commercial transactions in Tokyo
Let’s take a look at some recently reported sales on commercial buildings, including multi-family, office and retail. It’s important to keep in mind that reporting transactions is entirely voluntarily and the vast majority or real estate sold in Japan goes un-reported. That means we have a very limited dataset to work with.Read more
Yokohama and Osaka see rapid rises in rents
While rent prices seem to be tapering off in Tokyo this year, two other Japanese cities have seen staggering rises over the past four months.Read more
Famous land swindles in Tokyo
Next month, Netflix is coming out with a fictional series based on 'jimenshi' (地面師), or real estate fraudsters, called Tokyo Swindlers. It looks to be based on some recent high-profile fraud cases that have seen some developers lose billions of Yen to scammers pretending to be selling sought-after plots of land. This is a real risk that we all have to be aware of when operating in Japan's real estate market. While the criminals tend to target domestic investors, I have seen some suspicious cases where foreigners may have also been targeted.Read more
Kumamoto Prefecture lists 18ha of land for 1/38th of its original purchase price
An 18-hectare parcel of undeveloped forest in Kumamoto Prefecture that once had a lofty goal of being a silicon valley-type IT hub is now up for sale for just 12.49 million Yen (approx. US$80,000). This is about 1/38th of what the prefecture had invested into it.
With the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) opening its first of two factories in Kikuyo, a 45 minute drive away, there is optimism that the semiconductor boom could propel the sale.Read more
The hype around Fukuoka
Lately, Fukuoka seems to be a popular topic for foreign institutional investors. We have had several conversations with inbound investors looking to explore opportunities and further understand Fukuoka’s real estate market.
Some of this new interest may stem from the recent development of several semiconductor plants in Kyushu. There is also a desire to find the next ‘hot spot’ as cap rates in Tokyo, for example, have been squeezed down to a level where foreign funds may find it challenging to make the numbers work.Read more