Average apartment rent in December 2016
According to Tokyo Kantei, the average monthly rent of a condominium-type apartment in greater Tokyo was 2,720 Yen/sqm in December 2016, down 0.7% from the previous month but up 3.5% from December 2015. The average apartment size was 59.84 sqm and the average building age was 20.2 years.
In the Tokyo metropolitan area, the average monthly rent was 3,198 Yen/sqm, down 0.4% from the previous month but up 1.0% from 2015. The average apartment size was 57.69 sqm and the average building age was 18.2 years.
In Tokyo’s 23 wards, the average monthly rent was 3,353 Yen/sqm, up 0.1% from the previous month and up 1.3% from last year. The average apartment size was 57.02 sqm and the average building age was 17.7 years.
Rents in Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are all down around 1% from 12 months prior.
Luxury hotel planned for historic site in Nara Park
Nara Prefecture is accepting bids from private companies for a hotel development to be located within the Nara Park grounds in Nara City. The 1.3 hectare site is located on the southern side of Nara Park’s Ukimi-do Hall, and was purchased by the prefecture from the national government in 2005.
Prior to the Meiji Restoration, the property was home to one of Kofuku-ji’s sub-temples. In 1890 it was sold to Nara poet Haruyasu Umeda (1850-1917). From 1911, it became the holiday villa of Kenshiro Yamaguchi (1886-1957), a wealthy banker and president of the Kansai Trust Bank (the predecessor of the Toyo Trust Bank, which is now part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation). After WWII, the annex of the Nara Family Court was built on the land. The land is currently vacant although traces of the original Japanese garden remain.Read more
Modernist factory discovered after 76 years
A factory designed by one of Japan’s leading modernist architects during WWII has been discovered in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka. The factory was designed by Togo Murano (1891-1984) and completed in 1941. The steel-frame building is 60 meters wide and 150 meters long.
Long-since thought to have been one of Murano’s ‘phantom factories’ that were never constructed, this steel mill in the Tobata District of the Yawata Steel Works is still in use 76 years after its construction. Several other factories designed by Murano were built in Yawata but later demolished.Read more
Tokyo apartment sale prices increase for 51st month
According to REINS, 2,993 second-hand apartments were sold across greater Tokyo in December, up 0.3% from the previous month and up 17.7% from December 2015. This is the fourth month in a row to see an increase in transactions from 12 months prior. The average sale price was 31,220,000 Yen, down 1.6% from the previous month but up 9.0% from the previous year. The average price per square meter was 497,800 Yen, up 0.2% from the previous month and up 9.5% from the previous year. This is the 51st month in a row to see a year-on-year increase. The average building age was 20.73 years.
In the Tokyo metropolitan area 1,542 second-hand apartments were sold, down 0.7% from the previous month but up 19.8% from the previous year. This is the 9th month in a row to see a year-on-year increase in transactions. The average sale price was 39,080,000 Yen, down 0.3% from the previous month but up 9.3% from the previous year. The average price per square meter was 670,200 Yen, up 1.5% from the previous month and up 9.9% from the previous year. The average building age was 19.37 years.
In the last quarter of 2016, 129 apartments priced over 100 million Yen were reported to have sold in the Tokyo metropolitan area, up 41.8% from the last quarter of 2015, and a record for the year of 2016. Total sales for the 2016 year were up 20.8% from 2015 and almost four times the number of transactions in 2011.
Central Tokyo’s 3 wards
In central Tokyo’s 3 wards (Chiyoda, Chuo and Minato) 230 second-hand apartments were sold, up 12.2% from the previous month and up 45.6% from the previous year. This is the highest number of recorded transaction for the month of December since record-keeping began in 2008, and is double the average seen between 2008 and 2012.
Past transactions in central Tokyo’s 3 wards in December:
- 2016: 230
- 2015: 158
- 2014: 152
- 2013: 171
- 2012: 116
- 2011: 114
- 2010: 123
- 2009: 98
- 2008: 105
Yamaha Resort Tsumagoi sold to Kobe-based hotel operator
Hotel Management International (HMI Hotel Group) will acquire the Yamaha Resort Tsumagoi in Kakegawa City, Shizuoka, in March. The seller is Yamaha Corporation. The sale price has not been announced.Read more
65-story building with 1,000 sqm penthouse apartment planned for Toranomon
Long-awaited plans for the Toranomon-Azabudai District in central Tokyo have finally been released. The development, which will be carried out by Mori Building, will include a 65-story mixed-use building that will contain mostly office space, as well as apartments and an international school. Construction is scheduled to start in 2018 with a completion date in 2022.
The 330 meter tall building will be Japan’s tallest building when complete in 2022 and just 2 meters shorter than Tokyo Tower, although it is expected to be overtaken by a 390 meter tall office tower planned for the Otemachi district near Tokyo Station.
The building will have a total floor area of 449,000 square meters (approx. 4.8 million sq ft). In addition to the office space, there will be 80 apartments on the 56th ~ 65th floors of the building. The smallest apartment will be a generously sized two bedroom apartment with a floor area of 125 square meters (1,345 sq ft), while the largest apartment will have a floor area of over 1,000 square meters (10,760 sq ft). This apartment could possibly be the largest apartment ever offered in Japan.Read more
The residential vacancy rate situation in Tokyo
According to the Statistics Bureau and the Tokyo Shimbun, the number of towns, cities and wards within the greater Tokyo area with vacancy rates below 10% has halved in the 10 years since 2003. In 2013, there were 56 districts with vacancy rates below 10% and 65 districts with vacancy rates over 15%.
Growing vacancy rates are caused by a variety of factors, including decline population in regional areas, an increase in the supply of housing, as well as an increase in the number of abandoned or uninhabitable homes that are left to rot instead of being demolished.
Highest vacancy rates
| TOKYO METROPOLITAN AREA | |
|---|---|
| [1] Toshima-ku | 15.8% |
| [2] Ota-ku | 14.8% |
| [3] Musashino City | 14.1% |
| [4] Nakano-ku | 13.7% |
| [5] Chiyoda-ku | 13.3% |
| GREATER TOKYO AREA | |
| [1] Nasu Town, Tochigi | 50.5% |
| [2] Katsuura City, Chiba | 36.8% |
| [3] Yugawara Town, Kanagawa | 33.4% |
| [4] Isumi City, Chiba | 28.6% |
| [5] Kamogawa City, Chiba | 26.3% |
Beware of relying on this data
Investors should not rely on this data as it is far from accurate for the rental market.Read more