Details released on luxury apartment tower for Shibuya City Office redevelopment
Additional details have been released for the residential apartment tower planned as part of the Shibuya City Office redevelopment. The new high-rise will be called Park Court Shibuya The Tower. The 39-storey apartment building will have 505 apartments, of which 355 will be made available for sale. Apartment sizes will range from 40 ~ 208 sqm (430 ~ 2,238 sq.ft).
This will be a leasehold property with the land to be returned to Shibuya City at the end of the 70-year term. The redevelopment of Shibuya’s City Hall will partly be covered by the land leasehold revenue. The new city hall buildings are due to open in January 2019, while the adjoining public hall will open in the following May.Read more
Sale falls through for 91-yr old former bank building in Kyushu
The sale of a city-owned historic building in Kurume, Kyushu, fell through recently, with the city now considering future options for sale. The building was built in 1927 as the Kurume Branch for the 77 Bank (now the Bank of Fukuoka). In 1968 it was sold to Kurume City and had been used as a public library annex and archives up until 2010. The exterior and interior remains largely unchanged from its original condition.Read more
Tokyo apartment sale prices increase for 68th month
According to REINS, 2,785 second-hand apartments were reported to have sold across greater Tokyo in May, down 14.0% from the previous month and down 6.6% from last year. The average sale price was 33,050,000 Yen, down 1.8% from the previous month but up 4.2% from last year. The average price per square meter was 510,700 Yen, down 1.9% from the previous month but up 3.2% from last year. This is the 65th month in a row to see a year-on-year increase in sale prices.Read more
Developers lose appeal on unfinished apartment building in Bunkyo-ku
The two developers of a 107-unit condominium in Tokyo’s Bunkyo ward that lost its building permit two months prior to completion have lost their appeal against the city in a court ruling on May 24.
Construction of the 8-storey ‘Le Cinq Koishikawa Korakuen’ building began in 2013. In early November 2015, just two months prior to completion, the city revoked the building’s construction certificate due to a major design flaw, effectively halting construction. Under the Building Standards Act, multi-dwelling buildings must have emergency escape stairs providing a direct exit outdoors. This building’s emergency stairs exited into the garage, which is 2.5 meters above ground level and 19 meters from the outside. Read more
Tokyo Apartment Sales in May 2018
The following is a selection of apartments that were reported to have sold in central Tokyo during the month of May 2018:Read more
Tokyo apartment asking prices in April 2018
According to Tokyo Kantei, the average asking price of a 70 sqm (753 sq.ft) second-hand apartment across greater Tokyo was 36,040,000 Yen in April, down 0.4% from the previous month but up 1.2% from last year. The average building age was 23.4 years.Read more
Housing starts in Kyoto drop 13.1% in 2017 as hotel construction overtakes apartments
Housing starts in Kyoto Prefecture saw a year-on-year drop of 13.1% in 2017 to 14,790 units, the second lowest level seen in the past 10 years. This is also the second year in a row to see a decline in new construction.
This has been attributed to a steep rise in the construction of hotels in Kyoto’s city centre, with developers choosing to focus on building hotels rather than apartment buildings. Construction of apartments has halved as a result. The tourism boom and demand for hotels has put pressure on land prices, causing them to reach a level where the land is no longer profitable for an apartment development. Read more