Hyogo-based company starts boutique historic hotel brand
In early October a Japanese association called NOTE opened up a series of historic hotels in the Sasayama Castle Town in Hyogo Prefecture. The boutique hotels are located in traditional and historic Japanese homes that have been carefully restored. NOTE currently has 11 hotel suites in four buildings in the town, and operates them under their NIPPONIA Sasayama Castle Town Hotel brand. They have also converted a former bank (c1934) in Toyooka into a hotel, restaurant and cafe.
NOTE is a Sasayama-based association that was established in 2009 with the purpose of reinvigorating rural areas through restoring old and vacant houses, promoting tourism and supporting local businesses. The food served in the hotel restaurants, for example, is sourced locally to support the town’s farmers, while staff are hired locally where possible.
NOTE is aiming to have 10 hotels in operation by the 2020 Olympics.Read more
Tokyo apartment prices increase for 37th consecutive month
According to REINS, 2,877 second-hand apartments were sold across greater Tokyo in October, up 3.8% from the previous month and up 8.4% from last year. The average apartment sale price was 29,480,000 Yen, down 0.4% from the previous month but up 4.8% from last year. The average price per square meter was 458,000 Yen, down 1.0% from the previous month but up 5.2% from last year. The average building age was 20.32 years.
In the Tokyo metropolitan area, 1,415 second-hand apartments were sold, up 1.9% from the previous month and up 8.9% from last year. The average sale price was 36,860,000 Yen, up 2.2% from the previous month and up 6.0% from last year. The average price per square meter was 619,100 Yen, up 1.1% from the previous month and up 5.9% from last year. This is the 37th month in a row to see a year-on-year increase in the sale price per square meter. The average building age was 19.30 years.
Central Tokyo’s 3 wards
In central Tokyo’s 3 wards (Chiyoda, Chuo and Minato), 179 second-hand apartments were sold, up 14.7% from the previous month and up 14.7% from last year. The average sale price was 57,220,000 Yen, up 7.8% from the previous month and up 10.3% from last year. The average price per square meter was 1,039,800 Yen, up 1.5% from the previous month and up 11.8% from last year. The average building age was 16.55 years.
Sale prices per square meter in central Tokyo are now up 50.6% from the most recent bottom seen in November 2012. Read more
Park Court Akasaka Hinokicho The Tower sells-out despite record-high pricing
All apartments initially offered for sale in the Kengo Kuma-designed Park Court Akasaka Hinokicho The Tower, currently under construction near Tokyo Midtown, have sold out during the first stage of sales held over the past weekend. The building is now 93% sold. Over 1,000 bookings were made to visit the sales office's showroom in the lead up to the first round of sales.
Prices started from 155.6 million Yen (1.26 million USD) for a 57 sqm (613 sq.ft) 1-Bedroom unit, up to 1.5 billion Yen (12.2 million USD) for a 203 sqm (2,184 sq.ft), 3-Bedroom penthouse apartment. With a price of 7,354,000 Yen/sqm (5,500 USD/sq.ft), the 203 sqm apartment could possibly be the most expensive apartment to go on sale in Japan since the bubble era of the 1980s. Even penthouse apartments in Roppongi Hills have only reached 4 ~ 5 million Yen/sqm in recent years, while apartments in the Toranomon Hills complex are around 4 million Yen/sqm. Despite the strong pricing in the building, only the 203 sqm penthouse unit has two full bathrooms, while the rest of the apartments in the building have 1 bathroom each.Read more
NTT to develop luxe hotels with fine-dining restauranteur
NTT Urban Development, the real estate development arm of the NTT communications group, is jointly developing several high-end hotels with restaurant and wedding planning company Hiramatsu.
Hiramatsu is known for their French and Italian restaurants, wedding planning, catering and wine businesses. In May 2015, they announced their foray into the hotel industry with the establishment of Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts.
Meanwhile, NTT Urban Development has decided to pursue the development of hotels and resorts to cater to the explosive growth in the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan. On October 1, 2015, they established a hotel and resort division in their commercial department. Read more
Residential yields in Minato-ku - November 2015
According to real estate listing site Homes, the average gross yield on an apartment in Minato-ku in Tokyo was 4.7% in November, up 0.2 points from the previous month but down 0.6 points from last year. The average gross yield across Tokyo was 6.3%, down 0.2 points from the previous month and down 0.6 points from last year.
The average asking price of a second-hand apartment in Minato-ku was 877,700 Yen/sqm as of November 1, 2015, up 0.7% from the previous month and up 9.3% from last year. The average asking price for land was 1,280,909 Yen/sqm, up 0.9% from the previous month and up 0.6% from last year.Read more
Two arrested under suspicion of illegally leasing apartments to foreign tourists
On November 5, the Kyoto Prefectural Police began interviewing two people who are suspected of allegedly leasing out apartments to foreign tourists for short stays without obtaining the appropriate hotel license.
The two suspects are are 52-year old advisor from a travel company in Tokyo and a 48-year old from a hotel proxy company in Yamagata City.
Both companies have been accused of renting out apartments in Kyoto’s Ukyo-ku to tourists on a short-term basis without a license which is in violation of the Hotel Business Law. As many as 300 guests used the accommodation between July and early October.Read more