Locals oppose luxury hotel plan for Miyajima, Hiroshima
Residents of Hiroshima's Miyajima island are vehemently opposed to government plans for a luxury hotel. The proposed hotel site is 3 kilometers or 10 minutes by car from the island's famed Itsukushima Jinja Shrine, a popular sightseeing spot for its giant 'floating' torii gate that sits in the bay.Read more
Our 2024 Q2 Japan Real Estate Market Report
Our Japan Real Estate Market Report for the second quarter of 2024 is now available for download. This report dives into recent shifts and news in Japan’s office, multi-family, hotel, retail and logistics sectors.
Members can download our Q2 report below.Read more
Buying a shrine or a temple? There’s a broker for that
A news program recently ran a segment on how temples and shrines are being sold off, typically due to not having any successors or being unprofitable. And some of the interested buyers are foreigners.
There are several companies that specialize solely in the sale of religious corporations. Essentially this is as simple as just recording a change in the company director on the corporate registry. The buildings and land are thrown in for free. Brokers advertise temples and shrines for sale across Japan with prices ranging from 30 ~ 500 million Yen and up. These are not real estate transactions, so no real estate licensing is required, but fees might be around 5% ~ 10% of the transaction price.Read more
Fosun selling Hokkaido ski resort
Fosun International is selling Hoshino Resort Tomamu for approximately 40.8 billion Yen (US$252 million).
Development of the 5,000 hectare mountain resort began in the 1980s as a third-sector, or a government and private business hybrid scheme. Much of the resort was completed by the early 1990s, just as the asset bubble had burst.Read more
Japan’s land values increase at an expanding pace in 2024
On July 1, the National Tax Agency published the annual ‘rosenka’ land tax values, with the nationwide average rising for the 3rd year in a row. This year's 2.3% growth outpaced last year’s increase of 1.5% and 2022’s increase of 0.5%, and is the highest rate of growth in 16 years.Read more
Landlords slashing rents in Harumi Flag
Harumi Flag, the conversion of the Athlete’s Village on Tokyo Bay, is facing an oversupply issue as hundreds of investors and landlords put their units on the market at once. In May 2024, NHK reported that over 500 units had been put up for rent or resale by investors.
Delivery of the units to buyers began in January 2024. By May, almost 330 apartments were advertised for rent.Read more
Hong Kong fund backs out of historic hotel project in Kitakyushu
A Hong Kong fund has pulled out of a historic hotel conversion project in Kitakyushu’s Mojiko district due to fundraising difficulties. The project would have seen an 87-year old office building fully renovated and converted into a 90-room luxury boutique hotel scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2020.Read more