Sales of apartments in The Parkhouse Hiroo Hanezawa begin this month

Mitsubishi Jisho Residence will begin sales of apartments in The Parkhouse Hiroo Hanezawa.

Readers may remember that these apartments are being built on the site of the former Hanezawa Garden - home of Yoshikoto Nakamura (1867 - 1927). Mr. Nakamura was a former Mayor of Tokyo, Railroad Minister and second Chairman of the South Manchurian Railway Company. The original house (c1915) had been used as a wedding facility / reception hall since the 1950s.

Mitsubishi acquired the site in 2011 and demolished the house in early 2012, much to the dismay of neighbours.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Japan's high-rise apartment market, March 2013

Grand Front Osaka (2013)

According to the latest data from the Real Estate Economic Institute's report on the high-rise apartment market, there are over 96,500 apartments in buildings over 20 stories tall either under construction or in the planning stages across Japan.

273 high-rise residential buildings are expected to be completed from 2013 onwards, with a total of 96,512 individual apartments. This is an increase of 38 buildings and 14,374 apartments from March 2012.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Second-hand apartment prices up 1.4% in April

According to REINS, the average sale price of a second-hand apartment in greater Tokyo in April was 25,560,000 Yen, up 1.4% from April 2012, but down 1.5% from last month. The average price per square meter was 393,600 Yen, up 2.5% from last year but down 0.9% from last month. 

Chiba saw the biggest change in prices over 12 months, with the average price up 7.3% to 17,620,000 Yen. The average price per square meter increased by 8.1% to 243,900 Yen.

Apartment prices in Tokyo's Chiyoda, Chuo and Minato-ku were down 3.4% from April 2012 to 43,840,000 Yen, while the price per sqm was down 0.5% to 767,000 Yen.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Village Vanguard launches real estate site

Kitsch store and burger joint Village Vanguard has launched a real estate portal to feature the quirky and offbeat apartments that you might not normally see in the window of a typical agency.

Visitors to the site (http://vv-realestate.com) can search for rental apartments, homes, shops, carparks or offices and can narrow down their search with special keywords including:

  • Retro / vintage style
  • Industrial style
  • Slow, organic west coast lifestyle
  • Japanese tea room style
  • Street art style
  • A room inspired by Oasis' first album (see below) Read more

by Zoe Ward

Former Yakuza arrested for squatting

A former Yakuza leader was arrested by police after allegedly squatting in an apartment in Tokyo's Itabashi-ku for 14 months. In early 2012, the 36-year old suspect had asked a real estate agency to view the apartment, which was advertised for rent, and was given a key to inspect it himself. He never returned the key, nor signed a rental contract.

Gas and electricity were connected by the suspect, and he had even installed a security camera.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Foreign buyers pushing up land prices in Japan?

Foreign buyers are reportedly joining the apartment buying frenzy in Japan. The recent weakening of the Yen by up to 20% means an offshore buyer can now save as much as 20 million Yen when buying a 100 million Yen apartment (assuming they were initially planning to buy last year but put it off until now).Read more

by Zoe Ward

Apartment prices skyrocket in Sendai

According to the latest data released by Tokyo Kantei, the average list price of a second-hand apartment in Sendai City in the first quarter of 2013 is 35.5% higher than in early 2011.

Prior to the Tohoku disaster, average apartment prices had dropped to 565,000 Yen per Tsubo* (171,200 Yen/sqm). Following the disaster, prices have since risen to 766,000 Yen per Tsubo (232,100 Yen/sqm).Read more

by Zoe Ward