A first for Kansai: Historic bldg facade preserved in redevelopment

July 13, 2012New apartments,Historic properties in Japan,Osaka apartmentsBuilding Profiles,Historic Properties,New Construction,All,Osaka

Orix Real Estate announced that they will be preserving the facade of a Taisho-era building and will incorporate it into the new condominium being built on the site. The design of the upper floors will also be in keeping with the original building facade. This is the first example of a condominium in the entire Kansai area that preserved the facade of the former building.

Apartment sales in 'Gran Sanctus Yodoyabashi' began on July 3rd, with 45 of the 60 units being offered in the first release. Apartments range in size from 56.09 ~ 78.83 sqm (603 ~ 848 sqft) and are priced from 37.6 ~ 56.5 million Yen. The average price per square meter is 693,000 Yen.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Rosenka land values drop for 4th year in a row, but signs of recovery in urban areas

July 10, 2012Japan land values,Rosenka land valuesLand,Real Estate News,Market Information,Commercial Real Estate

On July 2, the National Tax Agency announced the 2012 Rosenka land valuations. The average land value across 358,000 sites assessed nationwide fell 2.8% from 2011. This is the fourth continuous year of decline, however the rate of decline shrunk 0.3 points from 2011.Read more

by Zoe Ward

June office vacancy rates hit new high

July 6, 2012Tokyo Office Market,Tokyo Office RentOffice/Retail News & Information,Real Estate News,Market Information,All,Commercial Real Estate

Miki Shoji announced the results from their survey on office vacancy rates for the month of June 2012. In central Tokyo's 5 wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya), the average vacancy rate increased by 0.03 points from May to 9.43%. This is the third month of continuous increases. June's vacancy rate is at a record high level, beating the record set in May.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Apartment prices in Saitama up 21.1%

June 30, 2012Tokyo apartment pricesMarket Information,All

According to AtHome, the average sale price on a secondhand apartment in greater Tokyo was 21,580,000 Yen (273,000 USD) in May 2012. This is a decline of 0.4% from May 2011 and is the second continuous month of decline.

Chiba and Saitama, however, both saw relatively large increases in the average sale price.Read more

by Zoe Ward

800,000 sqm of land with unknown owners in Okinawa

June 27, 2012Okinawa LandLand,Okinawa,All

The effects of the battle of Okinawa in 1945 still remain today with countless tracts of land left vacant as ownership records were lost during air raids. Just over 805,000 sqm (199 acres) of land is missing records of ownership as houses were burned down along with the land registers and title documents.

In Teruya, Itoman City, in the southern end of Okinawa, sugarcane farming and residential houses are gradually increasing. However, a small 74 sqm block of land remains vacant as no one knows who the rightful owner is.Read more

by Zoe Ward

RYU:X TOWER - Okinawa's latest high-rise apartments

June 26, 2012Naha,Okinawa Real Estate,Okinawa apartmentsBuilding Profiles,New Construction,Okinawa,All

Three of Japan's major developers, Daiwa, Orix and Daikyo, have announced the details of their latest high-rise condominium project in Naha City, Okinawa. Called "RYU:X TOWER", the two 30 storey buildings will have 676 apartments ranging from one to three bedrooms, and priced from 28 to 69.2 million Yen.

The developers were selected by the city in 2006 to redevelop the site. The first stage of the redevelopment including building offices and hotel facilities. The second stage includes the two residential towers.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Residents move back into 'completely destroyed' building

June 25, 2012Earthquake damage,Tohoku earthquake,Fukushima Prefecture,Koriyama CityReal Estate News,2011 Tohoku Disaster

After a year and four months of waiting, residents of "Neo Heights Kuwano" in Fukushima's Koriyama City have been given the all-clear to move back into their apartments after the building was repaired following serious damage sustained during the Tohoku earthquake last year.

The first four floors of the building suffered damage to their exterior walls and the reinforcing inside the building's columns had broken. This led the city to declare it as 'completely destroyed'. As the majority of the apartment doors were jammed and could not be opened, the residents had to move out.Read more

by Zoe Ward