Toranomon Hills officially open from today
Mori Building’s latest high-rise - Toranomon Hills - is officially open today. At 247m tall, the 52-storey building is Tokyo’s second highest mixed-use building after Tokyo Midtown. An opening ceremony was yesterday, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe giving a speech.
The building contains office space on floor 6 to 35, apartments on floors 37 to 46 and the Andaz Hotel on floors 47 to 52. Of the 172 apartments, 70 were offered for sale (most have already sold) with the remaining apartments offered for rent.
Monthly rents range from 550,000 Yen (5,400 USD) for a 1-bedroom up to 2.92 million Yen (28,500 USD).Read more
Residential yields and vacancy rates in Minato-ku - June 2014
According to real estate listing site Homes, the average gross yield on an apartment in Minato-ku in June was 5.3%, showing no change from May but down 1.9 points from June 2013. The average gross yield across Tokyo was 7.2%, up 0.1 points from May but down 1.1 points from June 2013.Read more
Residents asked to move out of Yokohama apartment building after construction fault discovered
Sumitomo Realty & Development are asking residents of an 11-year old condominium apartment building in Yokohama City to move out after it was recently discovered that the building is starting to lean as the foundation piles might not have been sunk deep enough to reach bedrock. Sumitomo said they cannot guarantee the safety of the building and are considering either reinforcing or demolishing and rebuilding the apartment block.Read more
Out-of-date land titles slowing down redevelopment in Tohoku
Reconstruction and relocation efforts in the disaster-hit areas in Tohoku are being stalled as out-of-date property records are making it close to impossible to locate landowners.
In the town of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture, over half of the homes were either severely damaged or completely destroyed in the 2011 disaster. Barely any progress has been made on reconstructing the town and almost 4,100 residents (40% of the town’s population) are still living in temporary accommodation. Read more
Mitsubishi Jisho to start renovating old office buildings
Mitsubishi Jisho Residence announced that they are entering the building renovation business. With the cooperation of their subsidiary MEC eco LIFE Co. as well as Real Tokyo Estate, Mitsubishi plan to rent entire buildings from owners, carry out refurbishments, including earthquake-retrofitting, and then offer the newly made-over spaces for rent.
The owners of older office buildings can have a difficult time attracting tenants and such buildings tend to have high vacancy rates. As such, landlords of buildings with little-to-no rental income are less inclined to carry out renovations on their own.Read more
Kudan Kaikan (c1934) to be demolished
The government-owned Kudan Kaikan building in Chiyoda-ku may soon be demolished as the Liberal Democratic Party announced a plan to lease the facilities and land to a private developer in return for redeveloping the site.
The property had been used by the Nippon Izokukai (Japan War-Bereaved Families Association) since the 1950s. The other facilities, such as the hotel and restaurants, have been closed since April 2011.Read more
Could foreign buyers ruin Tokyo's improving property market?
The market for brand new apartments in central Tokyo is undoubtably strong at the moment with many buildings selling out before completion.
Those in the real estate industry, however, are nervous as to how long the positive conditions will continue. Why? The momentum at the beginning of 2014 has been a little weaker than it was the same time last year. Another cause for concern has been the growing interest from foreign buyers.Read more