Construction of Akasaka's latest high-rise to begin today
Taisei Corporation will begin construction of a 44-storey residential apartment tower in Akasaka 9 Chome from today.
The Akasaka 9 Chome North District Redevelopment is located on the northern side of Tokyo Midtown. The 4,656 sqm site was originally a densely packed neighbourhood of two and three-storey wooden homes, a kindergarten and small park.
The new apartment building will be 170m tall with 322 apartments and 44 floors. It will be taller than Akasaka Tower Residence (159m), Park Court Akasaka The Tower (157m) and Roppongi Hills Residence B Tower (156m).Read more
Strong pre-sales in Shinjuku’s 60-storey apartment building
On February 23, Mitsubishi Jisho Residence announced that all 325 apartments initially offered for sale in The Parkhouse Nishishinjuku Tower 60 have received purchase applications. The building, which won't be completed for another 2.5 years, is now 40% sold.
Apartments were offered for sale from February 14th ~ 22nd. A total of 713 applications were made on the 325 apartments, with lucky buyers selected from a raffle. The most popular apartment received 14 applications. Approximately 2,000 groups visited the sales office and 8,000 requests were made for sales brochures.Read more
Secondhand apartment prices in January 2015 - Tokyo Kantei
According to Tokyo Kantei, the average asking price of a 70 sqm (753 sq ft) second-hand apartment in greater Tokyo was 28,990,000 Yen in January, up 0.1% from the previous month and up 1.6% from January 2014. The average building age was 21.7 years.
In Tokyo’s 23 wards, the average asking price was 44,020,000 Yen, up 0.5% from the previous month and up 7.2% from last year. The average building age was 22.0 years. This is the highest level seen since July 2008.
In central Tokyo’s six wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku, Bunkyo and Shibuya), the average asking price was 62,010,000 Yen, up 0.1% from the previous month and up 11.4% from last year. The average building age was 21.3 years.
The drop in the supply of new apartments has contributed to a rise in the number of buyers seeking second-hand apartments as an alternative to brand new ones. While asking prices have been rising, Tokyo Kantei pointed out that there are some properties that are difficult to sell and have seen their price discounted as a result. For properties in prime locations, some owners have been delaying listing their property for sale in anticipation of prices rising even further.Read more
New law may remove tax breaks for abandoned homes
From February 28, 2015, the Act on Special Measures Concerning Vacant Houses will go into effect. This law has been designed to help reduce the number of abandoned homes across the country. Such homes pose fire and hygiene hazards, can invite crime and can be a general blight on the neighbourhood.
Under this Act, a local government can designate an abandoned and deteriorating property as a risk to the environment, and thereby make the property owner ineligible for the fixed asset tax deductions that would otherwise apply. In some cases, local governments may have the right to forcibly demolish the building.
In the 1970s, tax breaks were introduced to help ensure a steady supply of housing at a time when there was a housing shortage. Under this tax scheme, the annual fixed asset tax on residential land was reduced to a 1/6th on the first 200 sqm, and 1/3rd for the portion over 200 sqm, provided there was a house on the land.
Naturally this made it much more cost effective to leave a dilapidated and inhabitable structure on land that the owner had no current plans for, since removing the house could result in their tax bill increasing six-fold. For example, an annual fixed asset tax bill of 80,000 Yen would become 480,000 Yen.Read more