Debt relief for homeowners could arrive in December
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) is firming up plans that would reduce or exempt home loan repayments for struggling borrowers. These are extraordinary measures that would apply to those who have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact, and help to prevent home foreclosures and personal bankruptcies.
Tokyo Apartment rents hit ceiling
According to Tokyo Kantei, the average advertised monthly rent of a condominium in Tokyo’s 23 wards was 3,845 Yen/sqm in September 2020, down 0.4% from the previous month but up 4.6% from last year.
Quick real estate news summary for the week
Office vacancies worsen, Nippon Building Fund makes a US$2 billion acquisition in Tokyo, and a potential extension to the home loan tax deduction. Below is a quick weekly summary of some of the recent goings-on in the Japanese real estate market.
Demand returns to Tokyo’s once-overlooked suburbs
If you think the residential real estate industry is suffering at the moment, think again. Data shows that brokerages and developers are just as busy now as they were last year.
The problem with trying to buy an abandoned ‘akiya’
The Japanese countryside is dotted with old, rambling shacks and farmhouses that look empty and abandoned. They can even be found in urban settings. You may think it’s a simple process of just pulling the title with the owner’s name on it, giving them a call and offering a few Yen to take the old home off their hands. And voila, you now have a charming fixer-upper of your own?
Apartment sale price in central Tokyo jumps 18% in September
Second-hand apartment transactions across greater Tokyo dropped 7.3% from last year to 3,328 units in September. This comes a month after double-digit year-on-year increases were recorded across all four prefectures. The average sale price increased by 1.3% from the previous month and 6.6% from last year to 36,930,000 Yen. The average price per square meter increased by 2.1% from the previous month and 4.1% from last year to 559,800 Yen.
Tokyo apartment discounts in September
The median discount on an existing apartment sold in Tokyo’s 23 wards in September dropped to 1.32%, down 0.41 points from last year. Discounts were highest in the sub-30 million Yen price range, with a median of 2.07%, and lowest in the 50 ~ 100 million Yen price range with a median discount of 0.87%.