Suita City to demolish modernist building

The Senri Newtown Civic Center Building in Suita City, Osaka, will be demolished next spring as growing maintenance costs put a strain on local city finances.

The modernist structure was designed by architect Togo Murano (1891 - 1984) who was widely regarded as one of Japan's Modern Masters. It was completed in 1964, just two years after the Senri Newtown area was developed. Murano also designed an extension that was made to the building in 1976.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Sales in The Parkhouse Harumi Towers Tiaro Residence to start in July

Mitsubishi Jisho Residence will begin sales of apartments in The Parkhouse Harumi Towers Tiaro Residence in July. The 49-storey building is one of two towers being built on the site - the other being Krono Residence. Tiaro will have 861 apartments ranging in size from 43.33 ~ 127.79 sqm (466 ~ 1375 sqft). 

The Harumi Towers project will have 1,744 apartments in total when complete. Krono Residence is scheduled to be finished by November 2013, and Tiaro Residence will be completed in April 2016.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Redevelopment difficulties for 'non-compliant' apartments

Toa Parkside Castle (1971)

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) estimates that there are 5.9 million condominium apartments across Japan. One in four people in Tokyo live in a condominium, while approximately 20% of residents in Osaka and Kyoto live in one. Of these apartments, 1.06 million are in buildings that were built to the older earthquake codes (kyu-taishin). The current codes (shin-taishin) were introduced in 1981. Over the next 10 years, the number of apartments over 40 years old is expected to quadruple, creating an overwhelming number of ageing and deteriorating buildings. Yet, there have only been 180 cases of reconstruction to date.

One residential building currently facing an uncertain future is Toa Parkside Castle in Tokyo's Ota-ku. Located in a commercial district just two minutes from Omori Station, the 14 storey kyu-taishin building was completed in 1971, making it 42 years old. There are 94 apartments and a total floor area of 6,360 sqm.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Brillia Tama New Town sold out

All 684 apartments available for sale in Brillia Tama New Town have now sold out. Brillia Tama New Town is a large-scale redevelopment of the Suwa 2 Chome Jutaku housing complex in Tama City, Tokyo. The original buildings were completed in 1971 and contained 640 apartments. The demolition and reconstruction project is said to be the largest of its kind in Japan.

The new condominiums have a total of 1249 apartments, of which 565 were taken up by original residents (the remaining residents sold their ownership rights to the developer and moved elsewhere).Read more

by Zoe Ward

Home loan rates to rise in June

Banks are reporting a surge in inquiries from potential borrowers as interest rates are expected to rise next month. Customers are desperate to lock in mortgages at current rates, but it may already be too late for some.

Next month, Sony Bank will increase their 10-year fixed-rate home loan from 1.406% to 1.692%. As their home loan approvals typically take 1.5 months to process, any applications received now will be approved at the prevailing rates in July. Other major banks such as MUFJ and Mizuho may increase their 10-year fixed-rates to 1.50% next month, but they could go as high as 1.60%.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Land prices rise in majority of areas - MLIT LOOK Report

Commercial land around the Abenobashi Terminal Building (left) and Tokyo Sky Tree (right) were the only two locations to see prices rise between 3 and 6% over the quarter.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) the majority of survey locations for their quarterly Chika LOOK Report have recorded an increase in land prices.

Land price movements were measured in 150 locations throughout Japan, but primarily in the three major cities of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. 80 of those locations, or 53% of the total, recorded an increase in land prices, while 51 saw no change in prices. The remaining 19 locations saw prices fall somewhere between 0 and 3%.Read more

by Zoe Ward

New apartment prices up 7.1% in April

On May 20, the Real Estate Economic Institute's issued their report on new apartment sales in greater Tokyo for the month of April.

4,093 new apartments were released for sale during the month, down 2.8% from April 2012 and down 20.4% from last month. Of those, 1,891 apartments were in Tokyo (46.2%), 995 were in Kanagawa Prefecture (24.3%), 764 were in Saitama Prefecture (18.7%) and 443 were in Chiba Prefecture (10.8%).Read more

by Zoe Ward