How long did it take to sell an apartment in the first half of 2020?
How long were apartments sitting on the market and how much of a discount did they trade at? The below is summarized from a recent report provided by Tokyo Kantei that looks into any impacts that the coronavirus pandemic may have had on Japan’s residential real estate market in the first half of 2020.
Office vacancies worsen for 5th month
Tokyo’s office vacancy rate worsened for the fifth month in a row in July as the commercial sector feels the pain of the coronavirus pandemic. According to office brokerage Miki Shoji, the office vacancy rate in Tokyo’s five business districts reached 2.77% in July, up 0.80 points from the previous month, and up 1.06 points from last year. This is the highest vacancy rate seen since March 2018 when it was 2.80%, and the highest monthly jump since the company began recording data in 2002.
What has changed in the real estate industry since Covid-19?
Now that we are many months into the pandemic, has anything changed about the way the real estate agencies are operating? For the most part, business has returned to usual, with some adjustments.
Tokyo apartment discounts in July
The median discount on an existing apartment sold in Tokyo’s 23 wards shrunk for the 4th month in a row, with 1.4% seen on transactions in July. This is 0.4 points lower than the median seen in July 2019. Buying activity continued to improve in July, with transaction numbers that may be on par with last year.
113-year old house in Setagaya may be demolished
Unless a last-minute deal can be struck, the historic former home of Yukio Ozaki (1858-1954), a revered politician nicknamed the ‘father of the Japanese Constitution’, is likely to be demolished very soon.
Apparel company sells flagship Ginza building
On July 17, apparel giant Sanyo Shokai announced the sale of their flagship building in Ginza. Temporary store closures during the pandemic have hit the brick-and-mortar retail sector hard, with some cashing out of their real estate holdings to shore up cash reserves. Real estate developers are having a field day as struggling companies reach out to offload long-held and highly-prized assets.
260m tall twin-tower project for Shinjuku Station
Two 260-meter tall high-rise towers are rumored for Shinjuku Station. If completed, they would exceed the height of the nearby 243-meter Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.