Apartment prices in Saitama up 21.1%

According to AtHome, the average sale price on a secondhand apartment in greater Tokyo was 21,580,000 Yen (273,000 USD) in May 2012. This is a decline of 0.4% from May 2011 and is the second continuous month of decline.

Chiba and Saitama, however, both saw relatively large increases in the average sale price.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Residents move back into 'completely destroyed' building

After a year and four months of waiting, residents of "Neo Heights Kuwano" in Fukushima's Koriyama City have been given the all-clear to move back into their apartments after the building was repaired following serious damage sustained during the Tohoku earthquake last year.

The first four floors of the building suffered damage to their exterior walls and the reinforcing inside the building's columns had broken. This led the city to declare it as 'completely destroyed'. As the majority of the apartment doors were jammed and could not be opened, the residents had to move out.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Tokyo's newest and tallest wood-frame mansion

Tokyo's first 5-storey wooden structure - an apartment building - is to be built near Shimouma in Setagaya-ku.

Under a revision to the Building Standards Act in 2000, wooden structures over 4 stories are permissible as long as they meet building strength and fire resistant regulations. Prior to this amendment, a law made during the Taisho period (1926 - 1926) limited wooden structures to 3 stories.

Although the amendment was made 12 years ago, it has not been widely taken up by the construction industry. In Tokyo city, just one 4-storey wooden residence was built in Chiyoda-ku in 2011.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Yakuza member lies in order to buy apartment

A member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest criminal organization, was arrested Kyoto on June 18 for the fraudulent purchase of an apartment.

According to the Kyoto Prefectural Police, the accused signed a contract on an apartment on December 20, 2011. The signing took place at a real estate agency in Kyoto's Nagakyo-ku. The property in question was a secondhand apartment priced at 16,750,000 Yen, which was to be used for the buyer's personal residence.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Tokyo's office construction boom and it's repercussions

JP Tower in Marunouchi

The construction of new office buildings in central Tokyo is steadily progressing. In January, Mitsubishi Jisho's Marunouchi Eiraku Building was completed. In Spring, JP Tower and the Palace Building were completed, and Otemachi Financial City will be completed in fall.

According to the Urban Research Institute Corporation, the total supply of commercial office space in 2012 will reach 2,680,000 sqm (28,836,800 sqft). This is close to the past decade's peak of 2,980,000 sqm in 2003. A quarter of the office supply is located in the Marunouchi area on the western side of Tokyo Station.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Supply of family-type apartments down 60% from peak

A recent survey by the Haseko Research Institute has found that the supply of brand new family-type* apartments totaled 12,588 units in 2011 - just 28.3% of the total apartments to hit the market last year.

While this is the second year where the ratio has increased, it is still at a low level compared to the early to mid 2000s. Compared to the peak in 2005, the current supply has fallen by over 60%.

*For the purpose of this survey, family-type apartments are those sized between 60 - 80 sqm (645 - 860 sqft) and priced under 40 million Yen.

Source:
The Asahi Shimbun, May 2, 2012.

by Zoe Ward

Contract rate in greater Tokyo exceeds 80%

The contract rate on condominiums in greater Tokyo reached 81.8% in April. This is the first time since February 2011 where the rate has exceeded 80%. The high percentage was helped by strong sales of large-scale condominiums, and signals a change towards positive market conditions.Read more

by Zoe Ward