Apparel company sells flagship Ginza building
On July 17, apparel giant Sanyo Shokai announced the sale of their flagship building in Ginza. Temporary store closures during the pandemic have hit the brick-and-mortar retail sector hard, with some cashing out of their real estate holdings to shore up cash reserves. Real estate developers are having a field day as struggling companies reach out to offload long-held and highly-prized assets.
260m tall twin-tower project for Shinjuku Station
Two 260-meter tall high-rise towers are rumored for Shinjuku Station. If completed, they would exceed the height of the nearby 243-meter Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.
Tokyo Apartment Sales in July 2020
The following is a selection of apartments that were reported to have sold in central Tokyo during the month of July 2020:
Quick real estate news summary for the week
Teleworking fails to stick, Fukuoka’s faulty tower, a drop in apartment asking prices, and a fire-sale by a major landlord. Below is a quick weekly summary of some of the recent goings-on in the Japanese real estate market.
Okutama Town launches free house site
The mountainous town of Okutama, located in the distant western reach of the Tokyo metropolitan government area, has launched a “0 Yen Vacant House Bank” on the town's homepage to help owners dispose of their empty and idle homes.
Commercial real estate transactions emerge from slump
There are already signs that some sectors of the real estate market are emerging from the pandemic-induced slump, with the total commercial transaction value in June recovering by a considerable amount from the record low seen in May.
Some short-term hosts pivot to day-use office rentals
With inbound tourism essentially sitting at zero, some ‘minpaku’ or Airbnb-type accommodation operators are either closing up shop or pivoting into offering telework options in a last-ditch effort to stay afloat in a challenging market.