Monthly Archives: October 2018

Akiya (unused house) for sale, 50 mins from Tokyo : Is it really a good investment ?

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* Foreigners can buy a property in Japan without having special qualification.

Japan has too many houses and there are more than 8 million empty houses/rooms here (which accounts for 13% of total number of properties).  Houses that are not used for a long time is called ‘akiya’ (空き家) in Japanese or ‘Empty house’ .Some home owners are virtually sitting on the empty houses doing nothing due to various reasons. And more and more individual investors are paying attention to this akiya market. 
In the light of Suruga bank scandal, Japanese banks are generally tightening their lending stance for the individuals investors.
Their business with institutional investors, of course,  are as usual but individuals investors are facing more challenging situation.
I am beginning to see more bogus-like hyperbole ads by rogue agents to lure the naive investors.
Please be careful and skirt such dangerous investment.
Individual investors are, in fact, shifting their eyes more towards akiya investment (abandoned house) because akiya investment does not require the large cash payment and offer the relatively attractive yield (return) . We recently spotted the following two properties in Chiba prefecture (Chiba prefecture is right next to Tokyo Metropolitan)  and are happy to share the information with you.
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Japan market update. How are big players betting ? : Is it in the state of bubble ?

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JLL-Japan (JLL is an American professional services and investment management company specializing in real estate) recently held the conference in Tokyo with 400 participants from 250 companies.

JLL reported very bullish news about Tokyo market as follows: 

“Tokyo overtook London as the world’s busiest real estate market in the first quarter of 2018, with mega-deals and an unusually positive economic outlook driving demand.

Investment volumes in the Japanese capital more than doubled to US$9.1 billion in the three months to March (2017: US$4.3 billion), just beating New York (US$9 billion) and way ahead of third-placed London (US$5.9 billion).

Global deal volumes rose 15 percent to US$165 billion, making the start of 2018 the biggest quarter for commercial real estate deals since 2007. Asia Pacific transactions rose 34 percent to US$40 billion.”

Tokyo will continue to see the many office construction sites till 2020 and it would make the rental growth slow but the rents have been steady and are still rising.

According to a report by the prominent Japanese real estate consulting firm ‘Sanki shoji’, the vacancy rate of offices in upscale locations in Tokyo as of September 2018 stands at only 2.33 percent (down 0.12 percent from the previous month) and the rents have been steadily rising in last twelve months.
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Financing your real estate investment in Japan: Suruga bank scandal. Is it facing the risk of contraction ?

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Pressure mounts to enact inquiry by FSA on other banks ?

Recently the Financial Services Agency (FSA) ordered Suruga Bank to stop extending fresh loans for real estate investment for six months, over its improper practices related to such financing.
In recent years, the FSA has strengthened its oversight of surveillance over building financing for rental houses that have spread as tax saving measures for inheritance tax. There are an increasing number of examples of building properties in areas with low rental demand and inability to obtain enough rent income assumed by increasing vacancy.
There are cases in which loans can not be repaid and leading to the foreclosures.Those who are affluent with the upscale property have been targeted by the developers of new apartment buildings and the real estate companies.
Since around 2010, these developers and real estate companies have focused not only on loans involved in landowner’s tax saving measures but also on loans to individuals who do not own the land with limited self-funding. Then shared house scandal involving Suruga bank and Smart days (operator of shared house) exposed to the light in early 2018.Read more

The best buy places to own a new condo unit in Japan

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（Kashiwa station, Chiba)

Do you want to know the best buy places to own a condo unit in Japan ?

Toyokeizai, one of the renowned business magazines in Japan
recently featured the unique real estate (condo unit for home) information in Japan.

The magazine picked up some best buy railways stations in greater Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya to own for your home.

The ranking is based on unique method of PER (Price Earning Ratio).
This particular PER is used to calculate the length (years) to pay back the property price
(new 3 bed room unit with 70 m2) if you rent out.

For example, Read more