Demolition starts on 56-yr old building in Akasaka

Demolition of the 56-year old Sankaido Building near the US Embassy will start this month. The building is making way for a new redevelopment project by Norin Suisan Shoreikai and construction giant Kajima Corporation.Read more


Osaka office building sells at 3.5% cap rate

A 13-story office building in Osaka has been acquired by a J-REIT for 17.215 billion Yen (approx. US$121 million). Japan Real Estate Investment Corporation purchased Forecast Sakaisuji Hommachi on August 1 with delivery to take place by the end of the month. The seller was not named.Read more


MUJI to sell Ikebukuro head office

On July 26, the operator of home goods retailer MUJI announced the planned sale of its head office building in Ikebukuro. The company, Ryohin Keikaku, did not comment on the scale of the profit from the sale.Read more


51-yr old building in Tsukiji transacts for high price

A developer has paid an assumed 17.5 billion Yen (US$125 million) for a 51-year old office building in Tsukiji. The new owner plans to demolish the Shin Hanwa Building and redevelop the site.Read more


An update on the long-awaited ‘Roppongi Hills 2’ project

It’s been a while since we had an update on the ‘Roppongi Hills 2’ project in Tokyo. Luckily, some more concrete project details were made public for online viewing between June 24 and July 3. Read more


Chiba City wants more office buildings and is willing to pay for them

Chiba City has been suffering from a lack of quality office buildings in the city center, particularly in front of major stations, and is going to offer financial incentives of up to 2 billion Yen (approx. US$14.3 million) per project to encourage new construction or building extensions.Read more


Expected yields on Japanese real estate remain at historic lows

Despite the turmoil happening in some overseas commercial real estate sectors, investors in Japanese real estate continue to anticipate record-low yields. That may be due in part to low interest rates which make it one of the few places with a positive yield spread over government bonds. The latest investor survey by the Japan Real Estate Institute in April shows expected yields have either remained the same or dropped, depending on the asset class and location.Read more