Sales in The Parkhouse Hiroo Hanezawa off to a great start

The first round of sales in The Parkhouse Hiroo Hanezawa began at the end of May. All of the 27 apartments made available for purchase in the first round were sold. They ranged in size from 43 to 152 sqm (462 ~ 1635 sqft) and were priced from 46 ~ 275 million Yen. 17 of the apartments were priced over 100 million Yen.

The sales office received 33 purchase applications for the 27 apartments. The most popular apartments were 2-bedroom types priced around 85 million Yen and 3-bedroom types priced around 128 million Yen. Read more


Skyz Tower & Garden to begin sales in July

Sales of apartments in Skyz Tower & Garden in Toyosu are scheduled to begin in July. This is part of the 'Tokyo Wonderful Project' redevelopment of a 32,000 sqm site that was once a Tepco-owned thermal power station.

The 150m tall condominium will contain 1,110 apartments ranging in size from 53.25 to 130.92 sqm (573 ~ 1408 sqft) and priced from 35 to 139 million Yen. A 74.50 sqm 3-bedroom apartment will be priced around 55 million Yen (738,000 Yen/sqm), and some apartments will be priced over 100 million Yen. Over 10,000 inquiries have been made prior to the opening of the showroom this coming weekend. Read more


Suita City to demolish modernist building

The Senri Newtown Civic Center Building in Suita City, Osaka, will be demolished next spring as growing maintenance costs put a strain on local city finances.

The modernist structure was designed by architect Togo Murano (1891 - 1984) who was widely regarded as one of Japan's Modern Masters. It was completed in 1964, just two years after the Senri Newtown area was developed. Murano also designed an extension that was made to the building in 1976.Read more


Sales in The Parkhouse Harumi Towers Tiaro Residence to start in July

Mitsubishi Jisho Residence will begin sales of apartments in The Parkhouse Harumi Towers Tiaro Residence in July. The 49-storey building is one of two towers being built on the site - the other being Krono Residence. Tiaro will have 861 apartments ranging in size from 43.33 ~ 127.79 sqm (466 ~ 1375 sqft). 

The Harumi Towers project will have 1,744 apartments in total when complete. Krono Residence is scheduled to be finished by November 2013, and Tiaro Residence will be completed in April 2016.Read more


Redevelopment difficulties for 'non-compliant' apartments

Toa Parkside Castle (1971)

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) estimates that there are 5.9 million condominium apartments across Japan. One in four people in Tokyo live in a condominium, while approximately 20% of residents in Osaka and Kyoto live in one. Of these apartments, 1.06 million are in buildings that were built to the older earthquake codes (kyu-taishin). The current codes (shin-taishin) were introduced in 1981. Over the next 10 years, the number of apartments over 40 years old is expected to quadruple, creating an overwhelming number of ageing and deteriorating buildings. Yet, there have only been 180 cases of reconstruction to date.

One residential building currently facing an uncertain future is Toa Parkside Castle in Tokyo's Ota-ku. Located in a commercial district just two minutes from Omori Station, the 14 storey kyu-taishin building was completed in 1971, making it 42 years old. There are 94 apartments and a total floor area of 6,360 sqm.Read more


Brillia Tama New Town sold out

All 684 apartments available for sale in Brillia Tama New Town have now sold out. Brillia Tama New Town is a large-scale redevelopment of the Suwa 2 Chome Jutaku housing complex in Tama City, Tokyo. The original buildings were completed in 1971 and contained 640 apartments. The demolition and reconstruction project is said to be the largest of its kind in Japan.

The new condominiums have a total of 1249 apartments, of which 565 were taken up by original residents (the remaining residents sold their ownership rights to the developer and moved elsewhere).Read more


Home loan rates to rise in June

Banks are reporting a surge in inquiries from potential borrowers as interest rates are expected to rise next month. Customers are desperate to lock in mortgages at current rates, but it may already be too late for some.

Next month, Sony Bank will increase their 10-year fixed-rate home loan from 1.406% to 1.692%. As their home loan approvals typically take 1.5 months to process, any applications received now will be approved at the prevailing rates in July. Other major banks such as MUFJ and Mizuho may increase their 10-year fixed-rates to 1.50% next month, but they could go as high as 1.60%.Read more