Kansai's most expensive neighborhood is not where you think

Shinpoincho, Tennoji-ku

The most expensive neighborhoods in the Kansai area are typically considered to be Ashiya and Kurakuen, both in Hyogo Prefecture.

However, according to the kouji-chika land assessment values, the most expensive residential land in Kansai is in the Shinpoincho area in Osaka's Tennoji-ku.

Shinpoincho has been in the number one spot for the past eleven years, yet remains relatively unknown as it does not have the same name recognition as the Ashiya, Tezukayama or Nara's Gakuenmae neighborhoods.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Office vacancy rates down for second month

According to Miki Shoji, office building vacancy rates in Tokyo's central 5 wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku, and Shibuya) fell 0.11 points at the end of March to 9.04%. This is the second continuous month where vacancy rates have fallen. However, the lower vacancy rates are not a sign of a market recovery but are due to falling office rents.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Nomura announces apartment price movements for April

Nomura Real Estate Urban Net announced the results of their survey on land and apartment price movements as of April 1, 2012. In greater Tokyo, the average price of both residential land and secondhand apartments fell 0.5% during the first quarter. On an annual basis, the price of residential land in greater Tokyo was down 2.8% (compared to a 2.0% decline from one year ago). Secondhand apartment prices fell by 3.1% over the year (compared to a 2.4% decline from the previous period).Read more

by Zoe Ward

Accommodation shortages creating headaches for businesses in Miyagi and Iwate

The disaster-hit Tohoku region is experiencing a severe shortage in rental accommodation and local real estate companies are hurting.

"Despite inquiries increasing day by day, we have no properties on our books. We have clients in our office but no properties to show them. Our revenues are plummeting." - President of a property management company in Sendai City.

The months of February and March are typically the busiest and provide the largest revenues for the company, however they currently have no vacant studio apartments and accommodation is severely limited.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Korea Town leads to rise in land values

The South Korean pop culture boom in Shinjuku's "Korea Town" has led to a large increase in surrounding land values.

According to the 2012 Koji-Chika assessed land values, the Shinokubo area in Shinjuku which has a large South Korean population has seen land values increase by 1.7% over the past year. While the nationwide residential land values have fallen by 2.3% and 3.1% in business districts, Korea Town has managed to escape from the declining land values.Read more

by Zoe Ward

New apartments in Tokyo on sale in April

According to real estate information service provider, Mercury, a total of 92 new buildings with 9742 apartments will go on sale in greater Tokyo in April. The number of new buildings is down 28% from March and the total number of apartments decreased by 29%.Read more

by Zoe Ward

AtHome Tokyo sales data for February 2012

AtHome released their data on the listing prices and contracted prices for brand new and secondhand properties in greater Tokyo for February 2012.

The average contracted price for a brand new house in greater Tokyo increased by 2.3% from February of 2011 to 32,320,000 Yen. This is the 14th continuous month of price increases. West Tokyo saw an increase of over 5%. In Tokyo's 23 wards, the contracted price saw a large fall.Read more

by Zoe Ward