Two floors in Roppongi Hills sold to small-lot real estate fund
Small-lot real estate fund creator and operator, Financial Partners Group (FPG), has acquired the 18th and 21st floors in Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. This is the largest acquisition by FPG to date, and potentially the largest small-lot investment to go on offer.Read more
Recent reported commercial transactions in Tokyo
Let’s take a look at some recently reported sales on commercial buildings, including multi-family, office and retail. It’s important to keep in mind that reporting transactions is entirely voluntarily and the vast majority or real estate sold in Japan goes un-reported. That means we have a very limited dataset to work with.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
Famous land swindles in Tokyo
Next month, Netflix is coming out with a fictional series based on 'jimenshi' (地面師), or real estate fraudsters, called Tokyo Swindlers. It looks to be based on some recent high-profile fraud cases that have seen some developers lose billions of Yen to scammers pretending to be selling sought-after plots of land. This is a real risk that we all have to be aware of when operating in Japan's real estate market. While the criminals tend to target domestic investors, I have seen some suspicious cases where foreigners may have also been targeted.Read more
Kudan-Minami office building traded for 3rd time in 3 years
A 10-story office building across from Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo’s Chiyoda ward has changed hands for the third time in three years. NTT Urban Development acquired Pacific Square Kudan-Minami from a real estate fund in early 2008. It had been suffering from high vacancy rates at the time due to high supply in the neighborhood and a relatively small floor plate (144 m2).Read more
Seibu to sell off all assets by 2026, starting with Kioicho skyscraper
On May 9, Seibu Holdings confirmed its plans to sell the Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho property in central Tokyo within the year.Read more
Department Store plans 500 billion Yen redevelopment
Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings is planning to invest 500 billion Yen (approx. US$3.2 billion) in a large-scale redevelopment project in the neighborhood around its landmark Isetan Shinjuku Department Store. This redevelopment plan is expected to boost annual department store revenues by 100 billion Yen.Read more