Kyoto apartment sale breaks price record
A 749 million Yen (6.1 million USD) penthouse apartment in a luxury condominium currently under construction in Kyoto has sold out on the first day of sales.
26 of the building’s 85 apartments were offered for sale last weekend. They were priced from 41.8 ~ 749 million Yen (340,000 ~ 6,100,000 USD). A total of 44 purchase applications were received, with the most popular apartment (a 3-Bedroom unit priced at 329 million Yen, or around 2.7 million USD), receiving 5 applications. The second most popular apartment was another 3-Bedroom unit priced at 379 million Yen (3.1 million USD) which received 4 applications. As is the case with new construction sales, the lucky buyers were drawn via a raffle.Read more
Shiba Park Building returns to the market
Shiba Park Building, a landmark office building in central Tokyo, is being offered for sale again, with insiders suggesting it could sell for more than 160 billion Yen (1.3 billion USD). *Update: Several months later, the owners decided to take advantage of low borrowing rates to refinance rather than sell the building, with the net rental income providing a more attractive return than disposal of the asset.
The 14-storey building has a total floor area of 103,000 sqm (1.1 million sq.ft), of which 83,000 sqm is leasable space. It was built in 1982 by Shuwa Corporation, a real estate developer that invested heavily in US properties during Japan’s bubble economy in the late 1980s. Shuwa was also the developer of numerous ‘Shuwa Residence’ vintage apartment buildings built across Tokyo and Saitama in the 1960s and 1970s.Read more
Tokyo Apartment Sales in November 2015
The following is a selection of apartments that were sold in central Tokyo during the month of November 2015:Read more
Contractor cites Edo-period land claim in lake landfill dispute
A construction contractor in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, is citing a 200-year old claim to surface rights of Lake Shinji after the government has accused him of illegal legal reclamation. Since 1997, the national government has issued 35 infringement notices to the contractor, ordering him to cease his land reclamation work and return the site to its original condition.Read more
Apartment asking prices in Tokyo increase for 16th month but supply-demand balance starts to shift
According to Tokyo Kantei, the average asking price of a 70 sqm (753 sq.ft) second-hand apartment in greater Tokyo in October was 31,970,000 Yen, up 1.2% from the previous month and up 12.3% from last year. This is the 14th month in a row to see a month-on-month increase in asking prices. The average building age was 22.3 years.
In Tokyo’s 23 wards, the average asking price was 49,780,000 Yen, up 1.3% from the previous month and up 17.0% from last year. This is the 16th month in a row to see a month-on-month increase. The average building age was 22.0 years.
In Tokyo’s central six wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku, Bunkyo and Shibuya), the average asking price was 69,690,000 Yen, up 0.7% from the previous month and up 15.8% from last year. This is the fifth month in a row to see an increase, although the rate of increase has slowed.Read more
Condo manager accused of 1.1 billion Yen embezzlement
The former chairperson of the owner’s association of a ski resort condominium in Niigata has been accused of allegedly embezzling 1.178 billion Yen (9.6 million USD) from the apartment building’s management and repair fund over the span of sixteen years.
The owner’s association filed a criminal complaint in an attempt to recover the 400 million Yen which falls within the statute of limitations. The former chairman allegedly falsified bank statements after transferring the funds to his personal bank account to purchase shares and make other personal investments. Read more