Park Court Akasaka Hinokicho The Tower sells-out despite record-high pricing

Park Court Akasaka Hinokicho The Tower 1

All apartments initially offered for sale in the Kengo Kuma-designed Park Court Akasaka Hinokicho The Tower, currently under construction near Tokyo Midtown, have sold out during the first stage of sales held over the past weekend. The building is now 93% sold. Over 1,000 bookings were made to visit the sales office's showroom in the lead up to the first round of sales.

Prices started from 155.6 million Yen (1.26 million USD) for a 57 sqm (613 sq.ft) 1-Bedroom unit, up to 1.5 billion Yen (12.2 million USD) for a 203 sqm (2,184 sq.ft), 3-Bedroom penthouse apartment. With a price of 7,354,000 Yen/sqm (5,500 USD/sq.ft), the 203 sqm apartment could possibly be the most expensive apartment to go on sale in Japan since the bubble era of the 1980s. Even penthouse apartments in Roppongi Hills have only reached 4 ~ 5 million Yen/sqm in recent years, while apartments in the Toranomon Hills complex are around 4 million Yen/sqm. Despite the strong pricing in the building, only the 203 sqm penthouse unit has two full bathrooms, while the rest of the apartments in the building have 1 bathroom each.Read more


NTT to develop luxe hotels with fine-dining restauranteur

Hiramatsu

NTT Urban Development, the real estate development arm of the NTT communications group, is jointly developing several high-end hotels with restaurant and wedding planning company Hiramatsu.

Hiramatsu is known for their French and Italian restaurants, wedding planning, catering and wine businesses. In May 2015, they announced their foray into the hotel industry with the establishment of Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts.

Meanwhile, NTT Urban Development has decided to pursue the development of hotels and resorts to cater to the explosive growth in the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan. On October 1, 2015, they established a hotel and resort division in their commercial department. Read more


Residential yields in Minato-ku - November 2015

Tokyo Yields Nov 2015

According to real estate listing site Homes, the average gross yield on an apartment in Minato-ku in Tokyo was 4.7% in November, up 0.2 points from the previous month but down 0.6 points from last year. The average gross yield across Tokyo was 6.3%, down 0.2 points from the previous month and down 0.6 points from last year.

The average asking price of a second-hand apartment in Minato-ku was 877,700 Yen/sqm as of November 1, 2015, up 0.7% from the previous month and up 9.3% from last year. The average asking price for land was 1,280,909 Yen/sqm, up 0.9% from the previous month and up 0.6% from last year.Read more


Two arrested under suspicion of illegally leasing apartments to foreign tourists

Kyoto hotel
A tourist bus stopped outside the illegal hotel in Kyoto.

On November 5, the Kyoto Prefectural Police began interviewing two people who are suspected of allegedly leasing out apartments to foreign tourists for short stays without obtaining the appropriate hotel license.

The two suspects are are 52-year old advisor from a travel company in Tokyo and a 48-year old from a hotel proxy company in Yamagata City.

Both companies have been accused of renting out apartments in Kyoto’s Ukyo-ku to tourists on a short-term basis without a license which  is in violation of the Hotel Business Law. As many as 300 guests used the accommodation between July and early October.Read more


Tax office to crack down on high-rise apartment buyers

Japan’s National Tax Agency is calling on local tax offices to enforce stricter checks with regards to the purchase of high-rise apartments by wealthy individuals as a way of reducing their inheritance tax burden.

The inheritance tax charged on real estate is calculated based on the taxation value of the property rather than the market value. For apartments in high-rise buildings, the taxation value can be considerably lower than the actual market value because the land ownership share is usually quite small. The value of the apartment itself is also based on the size of the apartment and does not take into account the finish of the interior, whether it is on a high or low floor, nor the building facilities and services.Read more


Brand new retail/commercial building for sale in Shibuya

SOLD
Gross yield: - Occupancy: -

*Update: This property is no longer available*

This is a brand new retail building for sale in Shibuya offering immediate cash flow. The 3-storey concrete building was completed in September 2015 and is fully leased to a sub-leasing company for 1,389,710 Yen per month. The sale is for the tenanted building and the freehold land.

There are three separate spaces, each with their own entrance. Each floor has a ceiling height of 3.5 meters, much higher than the 2.4 ~ 2.6 meter ceilings found in most normal buildings. There is also a rooftop terrace for entertaining, which is accessible via the retail/office space on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The interiors are bare for tenants to fit out.

It is located halfway between Omotesando and Shibuya Stations, and is 30 meters behind the busy Aoyama Dori Street. The surrounding area is a mix of office, retail, restaurants, cafes and residential, but is primarily a commercial area. It is 200 meters from the offices of Conde Nast, Yves Saint Lauren and Alexander McQueen.Read more


Tokyo City to demolish Kunio Maekawa-designed clubhouse

The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to demolish the Fujimigaoka Clubhouse in Suginami-ku within this financial year.

The 200 sqm, 2-storey wooden structure was built in 1954 as the clubhouse for the former NHK sports grounds. It was designed by Kunio Maekawa - one of Japan’s great modernist architects.

Suginami-ku had leased the grounds from NHK from 2007 until May 2015, and used the clubhouse as the management office. Tokyo City acquired the 10.9 hectare property from NHK between 2012 ~ 2014, and are preparing to turn it into a public park. Unfortunately the city has decided that the clubhouse must be demolished to make way for the new park.Read more