Ishikawa Prefecture’s most expensive apartments go on sale
The most expensive apartments developed in Ishikawa Prefecture since the end of the bubble era went on sale last week. The 114 apartments in The Residence Kanazawa will share the building with the Hyatt House Kanazawa hotel.
Apartments in the first round of sales were priced from 30.4 ~ 199.8 million Yen (approx. 270,000 ~ 1,775,000 USD). The largest apartment on offer is a 180.77 sqm (1,945 sq.ft), four-bedroom unit priced at 199.8 million Yen. The building is due for completion by April 2020.
New minpaku laws decidedly unpopular in Kyoto City
As at the end of August 2018, Kyoto City had only received 129 applications for short-term letting under the new minpaku laws that were introduced in June. Of those, 33 are located in exclusive residential zones where properties can only be rented out to guests for a maximum of 60 nights between January 15 and March 15, with some exceptions allowed for traditional machiya townhouses and homes where the host also lives on the premises. This pales in comparison to the total number of 7,028 applications made nationwide. In Kyoto Prefecture, excluding Kyoto City, only 18 applications have been received as at September 14.
Apartment rents in Tokyo increase for 10th month in a row
The average apartment rent in Tokyo’s 23 wards has increased year-on-year for the 10th month in a row. The average monthly rent in September was 3,504 Yen/sqm, up 6.6% from last year and up 1.2% from the previous month. Both Yokohama and Saitama cities saw a decline in year-on-year rents.
Floor space across Japan increases by 0.2% in 2018
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), the total floor space of buildings across Japan totaled 7.73 billion square meters (approx. 83 billion sq.ft) as at January 1, 2018, a 0.2% increase from last year. Housing stock, including both private and public housing, saw a 0.2% rise and accounted for 74.3% of the total.
Kyoto’s most expensive apartment building is almost sold out
Kyoto City’s most expensive apartment building since 1995 is already close to selling out prior to the start of official sales. 90% of the apartments in The Kyoto Residence Gosho-Higashi have already been pre-sold to buyers, with the remaining 4 units offered in the first round of public sales held on October 13th. The four apartments are priced from 105 to 157 million Yen (approx. 935,000 ~ 1,400,000 USD). With an average price of around 1,600,000 Yen/sqm (approx. 1,325 USD/sq.ft), this is the most expensive apartment building to go on sale in the city since 1995. It has beaten a previous record set in 2015 by The Parkhouse Kyoto Kamogawa Gosho-Higashi which had an average price of between 1,300,000 ~ 1,400,000 Yen/sqm when new.
Greater Tokyo second-hand apartment prices increase for 69th month in a row
According to REINS, 3,244 second-hand apartments were sold across greater Tokyo in September, up 40.9% from the previous month and up 0.7% from last year. The average sale price was 32,920,000 Yen, down 0.8% from the previous month but up 2.0% from last year. The average price per square meter was 513,900 Yen, down 1.4% from the previous month but up 1.4% from last year. This is the 69th month in a row to record a year-on-year increase in prices.