City Towers Toyosu to crack down on illegal home sharing
The owners association of City Towers Toyosu The Twin - a 48-storey, 1,063-unit condominium located on a man-made island in Tokyo Bay - entered into an agreement with a local provider to weed out any AirBnb-type rentals in the building.
This is the first of this type of agreement for a high-rise apartment building. The company providing the service is Tokyo-based Oscar Inc. The company operates the Minpaku Police website which allows neighbors to report suspected illegal short-term rentals. The majority of reports made to the website are regarding security and noise concerns.Read more
700 million USD condominium, hotel and retail project for Hokkaido’s Rusutsu Resort
Kamori Kanko, a Sapporo-based hotel operator, is planning an 80 billion Yen (approx. 717 million USD) overhaul of the Rusutsu Resort in Hokkaido.
The first stage of the project will include a 148-room luxury condominium-hotel with construction set to start next spring. The condominium will be called The Vale Rusutsu and will be 11 storeys with completion by December 2019. Rooms will range in size from 50 ~ 260 sqm (538 ~ 2,798 sq ft) and with prices expected to range from 40 ~ 300 million Yen (360,000 ~ 2,700,000 USD). Sales are scheduled to start this month. Owners will have the option of leasing their room to the hotel while they are not using it.Read more
Japan’s first Indigo hotel to open in Hakone
On November 22, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced plans to open a 100 room hotel alongside the Haya River in Hakone.
The Hotel Indigo Hakone-Gora will be IHG’s first Indigo-branded hotel in Japan. Opening is scheduled for 2019.
The hotel site is a 10 minute walk from Gora Station and a 2 minute walk from the Hakone Tozan bus stop. All 100 rooms will have access to hot spring water, with 80 rooms having their own out-door hot spring baths on their balconies. Room rates are expected to range from 25,000 ~ 30,000 Yen per night.
Hakone, a popular onsen destination about 30km south-east of Mt. Fuji, receives as many as 20 million tourists each year.
Hotel activity in Hakone:
- The Kanaya Resort Hakone, operated by Nikko’s Kanaya Hotel Kanko Group, opened on November 3, 2017. The 14-room hotel sits on a 22,000 sqm site in Sengokuhara and has made use of an existing corporate guest retreat building. 12 of the 14 rooms have outdoor hot spring baths. Room rates range from 29,000 ~ 110,000 Yen per night.
- Fujita Kanko’s Hakone Kowaki-en Tenyu hotel opened in April 2017 in the Kowakudani district. All 150 rooms have their own outdoor rotenburo hot spring baths. Room rates start from 28,000 Yen per night.
- Mori Trust acquired the historic Gora Kansuirou Hotel in Gora in March 2017 for an undisclosed price. The 96-year old hotel sits on a 15,000 sqm block of land and has a total floor area of 2,266 sqm. Room rates range from 32,000 ~ 38,000 Yen per night.
- The landmark Fujiya Hotel (c1891) will close from April 2018 for earthquake retrofitting, with re-opening scheduled for Spring 2020.
- Hakone Hotel Kowaki-en in Kowakudani will close permanently in January 2018. The site may be redeveloped into a larger hotel sometime in the future.
Location
Kiga, Hakone Town, Kanagawa Prefecture
Sources:
Travel Voice, November 22, 2017.
The Tokyo Shimbun, November 9, 2017.
Apartment asking prices in Tokyo in October 2017
According to Tokyo Kantei, the average asking price of a 70 sqm (753 sq ft) apartment across Greater Tokyo was 35,810,000 Yen in October 2017, up 0.7% from the previous month but down 1.1% from last year. The average building age was 23.0 years.
In Tokyo’s 23 wards the average asking price was 52,920,000 Yen, showing no change from the previous month but up 0.9% from last year. The average building age was 22.6 years.Read more
Tokyu expanding development of luxury condominiums in Tokyo
To cater to growing demand, Tokyu Land is expanding the development of 100 million Yen+ condominiums in central Tokyo’s six wards. They currently have four high-end projects under development in Tokyo and have increased their sales staff by 20%. Their target buyers are wealthy seniors and dual-income households.
Two of their luxury projects include Branz Roppongi The Residence (Minato-ku) and Branz Nagatacho (Chiyoda-ku). Branz Roppongi The Residence is a 51-unit, 8-storey building located 200 meters from Tokyo Midtown. Completion is scheduled for February 2019. The average apartment price is 550 million Yen (approx. 4.9 million USD), and 40% of the apartments have already sold off-the-plan.Read more
Apartments in The Tower Yokohama Kitanaka to go on sale this weekend
Over 60% of the apartments in Yokohama’s tallest condominium will go on sale this weekend, in what will be the highest number of apartments to have ever been released for sale in a building in the city. The Tower Yokohama Kitanaka is a 58-storey, 200m tall apartment building located in front of Bashamichi Station and close to Yokohama’s waterfront district.
A total of 730 apartments will be available for purchase in the first round of sales starting from November 25. With a total of 1,176 apartments in the building, this building is the largest based on apartment count to have been developed in the city since 1993.Read more
Roppongi has the lowest rental yields in Tokyo
According to Tokyo Kantei, brand new apartments within walking distance of Roppongi Station had the lowest rental yields in greater Tokyo with an estimated gross return of 2.34%. Across greater Tokyo the average gross yield on a new apartment was 4.44%, and as high as 6.19% for 30 year old apartments.
Yields reflect risk and tend to be lower in areas with high rental and sales demand. They also tend to be higher for older buildings to reflect a variety of factors such as higher maintenance costs, lower rental demand and rents that decline at a slower rate than property values.Read more