An overview of Ginza's real estate market for May 2024
Ginza is perhaps the most famous retail destination in Japan. It’s also the most expensive in terms of rent and land prices and amongst the lowest in terms of cap rates. While land values took a dip during the pandemic when the country was closed to inbound tourism for 2.5 years, they have recently returned to positive territory. Below, we take a look at current market rents, land prices, and some commercial properties currently for sale in the Ginza address.Read more
Gap between studio and larger apartment rental market widens
There is a growing divide in the rental market between the small studio-type and larger family-type apartments in Japan’s major centers. Based on the latest data for the month of March, the gap is widening with larger rental apartments seeing double-digit y-o-y growth in some cities. But is this rental growth reflecting an actual increase in tenant budgets or are landlords just hiking up advertised rents? Let's take a look.Read more
Japan’s shrinking hotel sizes
Hotel construction may have resumed to a normal pace post-pandemic, but the average floor size per building is shrinking rapidly. Nationwide, the average GFA of a hotel built in 2023 was 72% smaller than the recent high seen in 2018.Read more
Japan now has 9 million empty homes, but not all are ‘akiya’
Japan has 9 million empty homes, according to the latest House and Land Statistical Survey published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on April 30. But… this number includes temporarily vacant properties and holiday homes, making the true ‘akiya’ or vacant house number closer to 3.85 million, or 5.9% of total housing stock.Read more
Station access is make-or-break for one segment of Tokyo’s office market
Major corporate tenants in Tokyo are placing increasing priority on location as they seek convenience. Offices with better transport access are seeing vacancy rates fall, while those in slightly less convenient locations are continuing to see vacancy rates climb. The difference can be stark.
What’s causing this shift?Read more
JREIT trades Tokyo office for multi-family
ORIX JREIT and Osaka Gas Urban Development are trading several properties between each other this month, including some multi-family at appraised cap rates in the low-to-mid 3% range.Read more
Semiconductor boom pushes rents and land values up by 30% in one Hokkaido City
Semiconductor factories are driving several localized property booms in otherwise quiet parts of Japan. One of those is in Chitose City, located about a 45-minute drive from Sapporo, where construction of the Rapidus factory is now underway.Read more