Gap remains between asking rents and tenant budgets in Tokyo

With inflation-adjusted real wages remaining stagnant in Japan, how have residential rents in major cites been faring? If you only look at advertised rents, year-on-year increases of 30 ~ 45% can be seen in some city centers, particularly for family-type rental apartments. But are tenants willing to pay these prices?

In October, listing portal site LIFULL HOME’S published its latest rental data, which separates rental data into advertised rents and those inquired about by potential tenants. The gap between the two has been growing significantly in some cities.Read more


REIT sells 302-room Osaka hotel for 7.75 billion Yen

Ichigo Hotel REIT has sold a 302-room hotel in Osaka to an unnamed buyer for 7.75 billion Yen (US$50 million), 2% more than the REIT paid for it eight years ago. The sale price works out to be around 25.66 million Yen per key.Read more


REIT disposes of office buildings in Osaka and Tokyo

KDX Realty Investment Corporation sold two office buildings in Osaka and Tokyo this month, one of which sold for 14% less than its book value. The buyers were domestic corporations.Read more


44-yr old Osaka office building sells for over 30 billion Yen

Kanden Realty & Development, a subsidiary of the Kansai Electric Power Company, has paid over 30 billion Yen (US$208 million) for the former headquarters of textile manufacturer Toyobo.Read more


Yokohama and Osaka see rapid rises in rents

While rent prices seem to be tapering off in Tokyo this year, two other Japanese cities have seen staggering rises over the past four months.Read more


Gap between studio and larger apartment rental market widens

There is a growing divide in the rental market between the small studio-type and larger family-type apartments in Japan’s major centers. Based on the latest data for the month of March, the gap is widening with larger rental apartments seeing double-digit y-o-y growth in some cities. But is this rental growth reflecting an actual increase in tenant budgets or are landlords just hiking up advertised rents? Let's take a look.Read more


Osaka's most expensive apartment sold during first round of sales

Osaka’s most expensive apartment building went on sale on February 19, with 2,523 applications made on the 146 apartments offered for sale  in the lottery. That included a 2.5 billion Yen penthouse on the 46th floor that received several applications. An average of 17 applications were made per apartment, with the most popular apartment receiving 95 applications.Read more