Real estate transactions by listed companies fall 40% in April-June

  • Pre-quake transactions for 1st qtr of 2011 were 788.3 billion Yen
  • Post-quake transactions for 2nd qtr of 2011 fall to 246.4 billion Yen
  • Companies expecting fall in earnings and profits
  • Reduced supply of properties
  • Power shortages mean no recovery expected until at least September, 2011

The total value of real estate transactions made by publicly listed companies between April and June, 2011, fell 40% to 246.4 billion Yen. This is the lowest level for this quater since 2003. Following the March 11 Tohoku Disaster, many sales were postponed and the property market quickly descended into chaos. With the supply of properties also falling, the market is expected to take a while before bottoming out.Read more


Does your apartment building have earthquake insurance?

*If you own an apartment in Japan, you can take out optional earthquake insurance. This insurance only covers your apartment and does not cover the common areas of the building or the structure itself. The management association for the building can take out earthquake insurance on the common areas, but as it turns out, less than a third of all buildings are covered.

Owners of apartments in uninsured buildings are facing great repair bills as a result of the March 11 Tohoku Earthquake.Read more


Tokyo second-hand apartment sales down 10% in May

Real Estate Information Network for East Japan (REINS) announced their results for real estate transaction movements in the Tokyo area for the month of May, 2011.

A total of 2215 contracts were made on second-hand apartments. This is a fall of 10.7% compared to May of the previous year, and the second month of decline. In April, the decline was 14.4%. The average purchase price was down 0.5% to 25.31 million Yen (308,000 USD). The average apartment size was 65.09 sqm and average age was 18.19 years.Read more


Tokyo Bayside Condominium Market - From Boom to Bust

Three months have now passed since the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. The affected areas of Tokyo Bay are seeing a growing disparity between the desired purchase and selling prices of condominiums on the secondary market.

Difference of 10 million Yen between buyers and sellers

Buyers are anticipating a huge slump in prices for bayside apartments. On the other side, sellers are still hoping to sell their apartments at pre-earthquake values - a time when the bayside areas were seeing huge rises in popularity.Read more


The 2011 Japan earthquake and what it means for the real estate market

One month has passed since the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. With strong aftershocks continuing and a nuclear disaster that was just upgraded to the maximum level, uncertainty remains over what will happen to the Japanese economy in the short and medium term.Read more


A message from Minato City regarding the Tohoku Earthquake

On April 5, 2011, Minato City released the following bulletin:

Damage within Minato-ku as of March 12, 2011

Minato-ku experienced a Shindo level (seismic intensity scale) of lower 5 on March 11. The whole of Tokyo was reported to have a Shindo level of upper 5, but exact levels within Tokyo varied. Click here to read about the Japanese seismic scales.Read more


Damage to Urayasu City and Tokyo Disneyland

The effects of March 11's earthquake were felt in Tokyo's bayside area which is mostly reclaimed land. There were cases of liquefaction, broken water pipes, gas outages and leaning buildings.

"The north side of our house has sunk about 20cm due to liquefaction and is leaning. Watery sand covered the garden." - reported one resident.Read more