Condominium in Tokyo has construction permit revoked just prior to completion
A 8-storey condominium in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, has had its construction certificate revoked due to having inadequate emergency stairs. The building was less than 2 months away away from completion and the 100+ apartments had already been sold to buyers off-the-plan.
To further complicate things for the developer, local building height limits have since been reduced which means that even if the developer corrects the evacuation exits, the top two floors of the building may need to be removed in order to obtain a new building permit. Height limits in this neighbourhood were reduced from 27 meters to 22 meters in 2014.Read more
Park Court Akasaka Hinokicho The Tower sells-out despite record-high pricing
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
Brillia Towers Meguro Sold Out
Brillia Towers Meguro, a large-scale, mixed office and residential project under construction near Meguro Station in Tokyo, has sold out this month. The project is scheduled for completion by late 2017 / early 2018.
The two residential towers will contain 940 apartments. 279 of those will go to original landowners, while the remaining 661 were made available for sale.
Sales began in early June 2015. The sales office had already received 23,000 requests for property brochures before the first round of sales. The model room, which opened in early April, could only be visited by appointment and was booked out two months in advance. Over 9,000 groups visited the model room.Read more
New apartment sales slow in September
Rising prices have caused some buyers to retreat from the new apartment market, causing developers to postpone sales of some projects. According to the Real Estate Economic Institute, 2,430 new apartments were released for sale in September, down 6.9% from the previous month and down 27.2% from last year. 1,604 apartments were sold, making the contract rate 66.0%, down 8.3 points from the previous month and down 5.6 points from last year. This is also below the 70.0% level said to indicate the line between good and poor market conditions.
262 apartments in high-rise buildings (over 20 storeys) were offered for sale, down 36.3% from last year. The contract rate was 66.8%.
The average price of a brand new apartment released for sale in greater Tokyo was 53,930,000 Yen, down 8.2% from the previous month but up 13.2% from last year. The average price per square meter was 761,000 Yen, down 7.6% from the previous month but up 14.4% from last year.
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West Japan’s most expensive apartment to go on sale in Kyoto
On October 8, Mitsubishi Jisho Residence announced a new condominium project for central Kyoto. The most expensive apartment in the building will be priced at over 700 million Yen (5.85 million USD). According to the Real Estate Economic Institute, this is the most expensive apartment to be released for sale in West Japan in the past 20 years. With a price of around 2,440,000 Yen/sqm (1,895 USD/sq.ft), it is similar to the current price of luxury high-rise apartments in central Tokyo.
The Parkhouse Kyoto Kamogawa Gosho-Higashi is located alongside Kyoto’s Kamo River and is 250 meters east of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. This will be the first condominium to be built alongside this river since 2004.Read more
Japan’s tallest base-isolation residential tower to be built in Osaka
On October 1, Mitsubishi Jisho Residence opened the model-room for a high-rise residential building planned for Osaka. With 55 floors and a height of 193 meters, The Parkhouse Nakanoshima Tower will be the tallest base-isolation residential building in Japan when complete (based on the total floor count).
The one, two and three-bedroom apartments will range in size from 40 ~ 148 sqm (430 ~ 1,592 sq.ft) and will be priced from 20 ~ 230 million Yen (166,000 ~ 1.91 million USD). There will be 894 apartments on 55 floors. The 22 premium apartments on the top two floors of the building will be priced over 100 million Yen (832,000 USD) each.Read more
Japan’s first high-rise condominium to be redeveloped
After several years of discussions, redevelopment plans have finally been announced for the 62-year old Miyamasuzaka Building / Miyamasuzaka Apaato in Shibuya. Demolition of the current building is expected to start in February 2016, with the new building to be completed by 2020. The building’s owners association voted in favour of redevelopment in March 2012.
This was Japan’s first high-rise condominium. It was developed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Construction and completed in 1953. The building has 11 storeys above ground and one basement floor.
The typical apartment size in this building ranged from 39 ~ 43 sqm (420 ~ 463 sq.ft). Although the rooms may be small by today’s standards, the building was considered to be the epitome of luxury living at the time. When new, prices ranged from 600,000 ~ 1,000,000 yen, and almost all of the buyers were high-income earners such as bureaucrats, bankers or university professors.Read more