Slim pickings for large apartments in Tokyo

Small housing options continue to dominate Tokyo's rental supply, while larger ones remain a rare find. In the 23 wards, 93% of rental apartment listings are under 60 m2 (645 sq.ft) in size and just 0.7% are over 100 m2 (1,076 sq.ft) in size. Read more


Omotesando office building sells at 3% cap rate

A recently-built office building in Omotesando has been acquired by a J-REIT at an assumed cap rate of 3.0%. Japan Real Estate Investment Corporation (JRE) acquired a 77% ownership interest in the 13-story ‘3rd Minami Aoyama’ building from its sponsor Mitsubishi Estate for 21 billion Yen (approx. US$143 million) on March 8.Read more


Osaka's most expensive apartment sold during first round of sales

Osaka’s most expensive apartment building went on sale on February 19, with 2,523 applications made on the 146 apartments offered for sale  in the lottery. That included a 2.5 billion Yen penthouse on the 46th floor that received several applications. An average of 17 applications were made per apartment, with the most popular apartment receiving 95 applications.Read more


Rents fors larger apartments reach record high in January

Advertised apartment rents in Tokyo have been on a noticeable increase since around mid-2022, but it’s the larger apartments that have been seeing the highest rate of rental growth.Read more


Thinking of converting multi-family to short-term furnished rentals?

With cap rates on some multi-family buildings in Tokyo now in the 3% range, furnished or short-term say rentals in Tokyo are an appealing tactic for investors looking to squeeze out some higher rents. We have sourced a few of these options recently that are available for purchase while still under construction.Read more


Harumi's office market woes continue

News broadcaster NHK has now picked up on the struggling office market conditions around Tokyo Bay, particularly Harumi island. Of interest is the Harumi Island Triton Square office complex. The landmark project was completed in 2001 with a shopping mall inspired by Southern Europe. Above, there are four office blocks with a total floor area of 383,300 m2 (4.1 million sq.ft).

Office occupancy was great up until five years ago, with some of the towers fully leased up. Now, there is around 10,000 tsubo or 33,000 m2 of vacant space. One of the office towers has a vacancy rate of 20%.Read more


Nozawa Onsen’s housing shortage

A shortage of housing in Nozawa Onsen is creating headaches for new residents. The bustling hot spring and ski resort village had entered into a decline in the 1990s and 2000s as the domestic ski boom waned, but has seen a recovery since the 2010s as foreigners descended on the mountainous destination, opening up tourism and accommodation businesses.Read more