Rosenka land values drop for 4th year in a row, but signs of recovery in urban areas

On July 2, the National Tax Agency announced the 2012 Rosenka land valuations. The average land value across 358,000 sites assessed nationwide fell 2.8% from 2011. This is the fourth continuous year of decline, however the rate of decline shrunk 0.3 points from 2011.Read more

by Zoe Ward

June office vacancy rates hit new high

Miki Shoji announced the results from their survey on office vacancy rates for the month of June 2012. In central Tokyo's 5 wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya), the average vacancy rate increased by 0.03 points from May to 9.43%. This is the third month of continuous increases. June's vacancy rate is at a record high level, beating the record set in May.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Apartment prices in Saitama up 21.1%

According to AtHome, the average sale price on a secondhand apartment in greater Tokyo was 21,580,000 Yen (273,000 USD) in May 2012. This is a decline of 0.4% from May 2011 and is the second continuous month of decline.

Chiba and Saitama, however, both saw relatively large increases in the average sale price.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Supply of family-type apartments down 60% from peak

A recent survey by the Haseko Research Institute has found that the supply of brand new family-type* apartments totaled 12,588 units in 2011 - just 28.3% of the total apartments to hit the market last year.

While this is the second year where the ratio has increased, it is still at a low level compared to the early to mid 2000s. Compared to the peak in 2005, the current supply has fallen by over 60%.

*For the purpose of this survey, family-type apartments are those sized between 60 - 80 sqm (645 - 860 sqft) and priced under 40 million Yen.

Source:
The Asahi Shimbun, May 2, 2012.

by Zoe Ward

Contract rate in greater Tokyo exceeds 80%

The contract rate on condominiums in greater Tokyo reached 81.8% in April. This is the first time since February 2011 where the rate has exceeded 80%. The high percentage was helped by strong sales of large-scale condominiums, and signals a change towards positive market conditions.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Apartment price to income ratio worsens

According to research by Tokyo Kantei, the average new apartment price in Japan is 6.27 times the average annual income. This is an increase of 0.26 points from 2010, indicating an increased difficulty in purchasing homes.

The average price to income ratio for a secondhand apartment (10 years old)  was 4.32 (0.26 points higher than 2010).Read more

by Zoe Ward

Tokyo's secondhand apartment market remains bearish

Data released by Tokyo Kantei has shown that the average price for a 70 sqm (753 sqft) secondhand apartment in Tokyo's 23 wards in March 2011 fell 5.5% from March of the previous year.Read more

by Zoe Ward