The difficulty in selling a house with 1,000+ owners
With over 1000 owners, some heirs to a traditional townhouse in Kyoto have found themselves unable to sell.
Okinawa’s housing starts drop for first time in 5 years
Housing starts in Okinawa in 2019 are likely to see the first decline in five years. Total starts between January and November 2019 dropped 9.4% from the same period in 2018 to 13,854 units. The biggest drop was seen in rental housing.
Tokyo Apartment Sales in December 2019
The following is a selection of apartments that were reported to have sold in central Tokyo during the month of December 2019:
Our Japan Property Market Report for 2019
Thank you to all of the wonderful readers over the past year. We appreciate your support and look forward to closely following the Japanese real estate market with you throughout the next twelve months. If you have any feedback, questions or would like to discuss your next real estate purchase in Tokyo, please send us an email.
Plans for 50 luxury hotels across Japan
On December 7, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced a plan to encourage and support the opening of fifty world-class luxury hotels across Japan. Suga made the announcement at a press conference following a visit to a town devastated by the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes.
Japan’s new apartment price to income ratio increases for 7th year
In 2018, the average price of a brand-new apartment across Japan was 8.09 times the average annual income. This is a 0.28 point increase from 2017 and the 7th year in a row to record a year-on-year increase in the multiple. For second-hand apartments, the nationwide ratio was 5.47, up 0.17 points from 2017 and the 6th year in a row to see an increase.
New construction pre-sales slowing
Over the past three years, the number of buildings selling out before completion has dropped to just 50%. For some developers, this can spell disaster, but a surprising number have the patience to wait and take a slower approach to sales.