West Japan’s most expensive apartment to go on sale in Kyoto
On October 8, Mitsubishi Jisho Residence announced a new condominium project for central Kyoto. The most expensive apartment in the building will be priced at over 700 million Yen (5.85 million USD). According to the Real Estate Economic Institute, this is the most expensive apartment to be released for sale in West Japan in the past 20 years. With a price of around 2,440,000 Yen/sqm (1,895 USD/sq.ft), it is similar to the current price of luxury high-rise apartments in central Tokyo.
The Parkhouse Kyoto Kamogawa Gosho-Higashi is located alongside Kyoto’s Kamo River and is 250 meters east of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. This will be the first condominium to be built alongside this river since 2004.Read more
Residential yields in Minato-ku - October 2015
According to real estate listing site Homes, the average gross yield on an apartment in Minato-ku in October was 4.5%, down 0.1 points from the previous month and down 0.5 points from last year. The average gross yield across Tokyo was 6.5%, showing no change from the previous month and down 0.4 points from last year.
The average asking price of a second-hand apartment in Minato-ku was 871,257 Yen/sqm as of October 1, 2015, down 0.4% from the previous month but up 9.3% from last year. The average asking price for land was 1,269,090 Yen/sqm, up 2.6% from the previous month but down 0.7% from last year.Read more
Japan’s tallest base-isolation residential tower to be built in Osaka
On October 1, Mitsubishi Jisho Residence opened the model-room for a high-rise residential building planned for Osaka. With 55 floors and a height of 193 meters, The Parkhouse Nakanoshima Tower will be the tallest base-isolation residential building in Japan when complete (based on the total floor count).
The one, two and three-bedroom apartments will range in size from 40 ~ 148 sqm (430 ~ 1,592 sq.ft) and will be priced from 20 ~ 230 million Yen (166,000 ~ 1.91 million USD). There will be 894 apartments on 55 floors. The 22 premium apartments on the top two floors of the building will be priced over 100 million Yen (832,000 USD) each.Read more
Nara Dreamland up for public auction for second time
Nara City is putting the foreclosed ‘Nara Dreamland’ amusement park up for sale for a second time. The minimum price is again set at 730 million Yen, and bidding is open for 20 minutes on November 10, 2015.
The park was first put up for auction in November 2014 with the same minimum price. No bids were made. Despite the lack of buyer interest last year, the city still believes the site offers a convenient location and are not adjusting the price downwards.Read more
Japan’s first high-rise condominium to be redeveloped
After several years of discussions, redevelopment plans have finally been announced for the 62-year old Miyamasuzaka Building / Miyamasuzaka Apaato in Shibuya. Demolition of the current building is expected to start in February 2016, with the new building to be completed by 2020. The building’s owners association voted in favour of redevelopment in March 2012.
This was Japan’s first high-rise condominium. It was developed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Construction and completed in 1953. The building has 11 storeys above ground and one basement floor.
The typical apartment size in this building ranged from 39 ~ 43 sqm (420 ~ 463 sq.ft). Although the rooms may be small by today’s standards, the building was considered to be the epitome of luxury living at the time. When new, prices ranged from 600,000 ~ 1,000,000 yen, and almost all of the buyers were high-income earners such as bureaucrats, bankers or university professors.Read more
Tokyo apartment sales in September 2015
The following is a selection of apartments that were sold in central Tokyo during the month of September 2015:Read more
Bigger buildings in Tokyo as zoning regulations relaxed
In 2014, the Japanese government introduced a new rule to zoning codes that meant the space taken up by elevator shafts would no longer count towards the total building area, thereby allowing larger residential and commercial buildings. Since then, several projects have been amended to incorporate extra floorspace.
In some cases, the allowance has provided for an extra floor to be added to a building, which results in extra saleable or rentable area for developers.Read more