Sankei Building to enter Kyoto machiya hotel business
On July 27, The Sankei Building Co., a Tokyo-based real estate company, announced that they will be entering the Kyoto machiya hotel business. Their first property is a traditional machiya merchant residence located a kilometer from Nijo Castle that is scheduled to open in April 2018.
100+ year old convent to be converted into luxury hotel
On July 31, Mori Trust announced that they have acquired the historic former Maria-en Catholic nursery school in Nagasaki. Mori will restore the 119-year old building and convert it into an internationally-branded luxury hotel targeting wealthy foreign tourists with an opening scheduled for around 2022. Mori Trust operates 21 hotels across Japan, and this will be their first venture in the Kyushu region. The seller was the Minami Yamate-kai social welfare corporation.
Construction starts on 3,000-unit project in Kachidoki
Construction has started on a triple-tower high-rise apartment project on the man-made island of Kachidoki in Tokyo Bay. Completion of the 165.5 billion Yen (approx. 1.5 billion USD) development is tentatively scheduled for late July 2027.
The Kachidoki East District Redevelopment includes three towers ranging from 106 ~ 195 meters, with a total floor area of 369,000 sqm (3.97 million sq ft) and as many as 3,120 apartments.
New apartment prices in Kyoto drop as developers are forced out of city center
The supply of brand new apartments in Kyoto City in the first half of 2017 increased by 21.7% from the same period in 2016, while the average sale price saw a steep drop of 24.1% to 43,280,000 Yen. The reason for the decrease in the price was due to intense competition for hotel development sites in the city center which has forced apartment developers to shift their focus to the city’s outskirts where prices are cheaper.
Tokyo apartment asking prices in June 2017
According to Tokyo Kantei, the average asking price of a 70 sqm (753 sq ft) second-hand apartment across greater Tokyo was 35,620,000 Yen in June 2017, down 0.3% from the previous month but up 2.6% from last year. The average building age was 22.7 years.
In the Tokyo metropolitan area, the average asking price was 48,110,000 Yen, down 0.2% from the previous month but up 0.4% from last year. The average building age was 22.2 years.
In Tokyo’s 23 wards, the average asking price was 53,090,000 Yen, down 0.2% from the previous month but up 0.4% from last year. The average building age was 22.1 years.
In Tokyo’s central six wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku, Bunkyo and Shibuya) the average asking price was 73,120,000 Yen, down 0.3% from the previous month but up 2.3% from last year. The average building age was 20.4 years.
Nihonbashi expressway may be moving underground
The unsightly Metropolitan Expressway that runs above the historic Nihonbashi Bridge in downtown Tokyo may be shifted underground. On July 21, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism announced that they have started investigations into the relocation of the highway.
Construction would begin after the 2020 Summer Olympics and form part of the district's ongoing redevelopment. The project could cost as much as 500 billion Yen (4.5 billion USD).Read more