Avex looks to sell Omotesando headquarters
On November 10, Toyo Keizai Online reported that major music producer Avex is making moves to sell its 18-story headquarters in Minami Aoyama, Tokyo. Avex would then lease the building back from the buyer.
Tokyo apartment discounts in October
October was an outstanding month for existing apartment sales, with transactions in the Tokyo metropolitan area up 10.7% from September and up 33.5% from October 2019. Across greater Tokyo, transactions hit the highest level since data-keeping began in 1990.
What about discounts?
October apartment transactions in greater Tokyo hit highest level on record
According to REINS, a total of 3,636 secondhand apartments were reported to have sold across greater Tokyo in October, up 31.2% from last year, and the highest number for the month of October since REINS began recording data in 1990. It was a similar story for detached home sales, with transactions jumping 41.8% from last year to 1,316 reported sales - the highest on record.
Quick real estate news summary for the week
Department store divests of real estate arm, 124-meter tall aged-care home for Nishiazabu, and office tenant hit with 700 million Yen penalty for canceling lease application. Below is a quick weekly summary of some of the recent goings-on in the Japanese real estate market.
Old department store in Yamagata up for foreclosure
The Onuma Department Store in Yamagata City is up for foreclosure later this month, with a minimum bid set at 186,768,000 Yen (approx. US$1.8 million). Yamagata District Court will accept sealed-bids from November 24 to December 1, with bids to be opened on December 3. The department store closed its doors in January 2020 after filing for bankruptcy, making Yamagata City the only prefectural capital in Japan to be without a department store.
Kyoto’s hotels see conditions improve for fourth month
According to the Kyoto City Tourism Association, hotel occupancy rates are slowly on the rise as the historic former capital recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. Conditions have improved for the past four months, and Japanese guest numbers are close to 80% of what they were pre-pandemic.
The two sides of Tokyo's shrinking population
In the month of September, the population of Tokyo’s metropolitan area dropped by 10,673 residents. While that might paint a grim picture, the population is up 28,253 residents from the same time last year. Ultimately the numbers still aren’t convincing enough to show that telecommuting is causing a great exodus from the capital. Almost half of September’s decrease can be attributed to a large and ongoing outflow of foreign residents, which may also be a result of the lack of incoming foreign workers and students due to international travel bans.