Tokyo's office construction boom and it's repercussions

JP Tower in Marunouchi

The construction of new office buildings in central Tokyo is steadily progressing. In January, Mitsubishi Jisho's Marunouchi Eiraku Building was completed. In Spring, JP Tower and the Palace Building were completed, and Otemachi Financial City will be completed in fall.

According to the Urban Research Institute Corporation, the total supply of commercial office space in 2012 will reach 2,680,000 sqm (28,836,800 sqft). This is close to the past decade's peak of 2,980,000 sqm in 2003. A quarter of the office supply is located in the Marunouchi area on the western side of Tokyo Station.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Office vacancy rates down for second month

According to Miki Shoji, office building vacancy rates in Tokyo's central 5 wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku, and Shibuya) fell 0.11 points at the end of March to 9.04%. This is the second continuous month where vacancy rates have fallen. However, the lower vacancy rates are not a sign of a market recovery but are due to falling office rents.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Office vacancy rates fall slightly

According to Miki Shoji, the average vacancy rate for office buildings in Tokyo's five central wards fell to 9.15% in February 2012 (down 0.08 points from January).Read more

by Zoe Ward

Tokyo office market showing further signs of slowing

Data provided by Miki Shoji

The central Tokyo office building market is stagnating. At the end of November, the office vacancy rate for Tokyo's central 5 wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya) reached 8.90%. This is the second continuous month with an increase in vacancy rates and the first time since April, 2011, that rates had reached this level. Meanwhile, the average office rent for central Tokyo has declined for the 39th continuous month.

With the Euro crisis and strong Yen, there is a deceleration in demand from tenants with many companies being more prudent and delaying moving. The demand for buildings with high disaster preparedness and earthquake resistance has slowed.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Office vacancy rates and vacant floorspace down in August

Sanko Estate released their "Office Market" data report for high-rise office buildings with a floor plate of 660sqm or higher in Tokyo's central 5 wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku and Shibuya) for the month of August, 2011. According to their data, the vacancy rate for August was 5.66% - down 0.45% from July.Read more

by Zoe Ward

Tokyo office rents at historically low levels

Miki Shoji announced on July 7 that office rents for commercial properties in central Tokyo have fallen 4% in the past 12 months and are now at the lowest levels ever seen since data collection began.

A major contributing factor to this fall are the companies who are seeing lower earnings as a result of the March 11 Tohoku disaster and can no longer pay high rent for their office space.Read more

by Zoe Ward