Same day sell-out in Proud Funabashi

Sales of new apartments in Nomura Real Estate and Mitsubishi Corporation's "Proud Funabashi" condominium development in Funabashi City, Chiba, have been surprisingly strong with all of the units in the 2nd stage selling out on the same day.Read more


June house and apartment data from AtHome

AtHome announced the latest price data on new and secondhand homes and apartments across greater Tokyo for the month of June 2012.

-- New houses --

In the greater Tokyo area (Tokyo 23-ku, West Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama), the average listing price of a brand new house was 31,580,000 Yen, down 3% from June 2011. This is the 5th continuous month of decline, however listing prices were up 0.5% from May.Read more


Real estate transaction volume reaches 4 year high

The volume of real estate transactions in Japan has started to pick up, showing signs of an economic recovery.

In the first half of 2012, transactions of office and residential buildings in major cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya etc), reached the highest level in four years.

The total volume of transactions by listed companies, including REITs, reached 1.1375 trillion Yen (14.5 billion USD). This is 10% higher than the first half of 2011, and is the highest level since the second half of 2008 which was the time of the Lehman Shock.Read more


Terrace Shibuya Mitake sold out 7 months prior to completion

Although completion is not expected until February 2013, the 128 apartments available for purchase in Terrace Shibuya Mitake have now been sold*.

The new apartment building is in a prime location just one minute from Shibuya station. New and near-new apartments this close to Shibuya station are very limited in number.

There are a total of 196 apartments in the 17-storey building, of which 68 will be given to original landholders from the Mitake Building which once stood on the site. The remaining 128 were sold by the developers.Read more


Foreclosed Aomori shrine for just 1 million Yen

The Hirosaki Toshogu Shinto Shrine in Hirosaki City, Aomori, is being put up sale as the shrine owners undergo bankruptcy proceedings.

The administrators announced that they are in negotiations with a Tokyo-based real estate company to sell the main shrine for just 1 million Yen (12,700 USD).Read more


Developers to capitalize on aging apartments

Major real estate developers are expanding their apartment re-development business in anticipation of huge demand for reconstruction in the coming years. Both Nomura Real Estate and Tokyo Tatemono are currently converting low-rise old apartment blocks into large-scale developments that are built to the latest earthquake-codes and energy standards.Read more


Prices falling, but apartment transactions increasing

The downward trend of the price of second-hand apartments in Tokyo's 23-ku is increasing in pace. From the end of 2011, the price of brand new apartments have been in decline, which has put additional downwards pressure on the price of older buildings.

However, the fall in prices and historically low interest rates* are having a positive effect on the number of property transactions. (*Out of all private banks, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Resona Bank both currently have the lowest 10-year fixed interest rates on home loans of 1.4%.)

Even buildings over 30 years old (1982 and earlier) are becoming more popular as long-term renters move towards making their first purchase.Read more