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

Office vacancy rates fall slightly

According to Miki Shoji, the average vacancy rate for office buildings in Tokyo's five central wards fell to 9.15% in February 2012 (down 0.08 points from January).Read more

by Zoe Ward

Hulic purchases Ginza building from Recruit

Hulic announced on January 27 that they have acquired the Recruit Ginza 7 Building from Recruit. The retail and commercial building is located at the Ginza Nishi 6 Chome crossing. The building has 9 stories and 5 basement floors and was completed in 1962. The land is 1500 sqm and the total building area is 19,790 sqm.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Tepco to sell off 70 ~ 80% of their real estate assets

Tepco's building for sale in Minato-ku

As Tepco's financial situation worsens rapidly, they are being forced to sell off more real estate in order to pay for the growing compensation to victims of the nuclear power plant disaster.

In September 2011, Tepco began selling off some of their large real estate holdings. The real estate included company dormitories and retreats. So far, Tepco has sold 40 properties for a total value of 6 billion Yen (75 million USD).Read more

by Zoe Ward

PM companies leaving Hokkaido amid Sapporo office market slump

Several real estate property management companies have begun to close down their offices in Sapporo, Hokkaido, as the local commercial market continues to decline.

At the end of March, Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) will close their Hokkaido branch. Also,  CBRE and the Sumitomo Life Insurance Company will no longer have representatives stationed in Hokkaido. Sumisei Building Management, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Life Insurance, is also closing their office in March as part of cost cutting measures. Sanko Estate currently has one staff member stationed in Hokkaido but all duties will be transferred to Tokyo from spring.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Is Tokyo's special economic zone destined to be a flop

In recent years, Japan has been losing losing its competitive advantage as foreign companies choose to locate their headquarters in other more business and tax-friendly Asian cities such as Singapore and Hong Kong.

As a way to increase the nation's international competitiveness the Japanese government recently announced plans to create special international business zones in seven areas across Japan. Locating your business within one of these zones will qualify you for certain tax breaks.Read more

by Zoe Ward

The "2012 Problem" of over-supply

Not only are residential apartments expected to flood the market in 2012, but the supply of new office space is also expected to reach record high levels.

This year, the supply of office space in central Tokyo is expected to reach the third highest level since the bubble economy in the late 1980s. Although construction companies are seeing brisk business, office vacancy rates continue to rise and we are entering into what the real estate industry is calling the "2012 problem". Department stores are facing similar conditions with an oversupply of under-performing branch stores.Read more

by Zoe Ward