Investing in Japan Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Yamamoto Property Advisory

Investing in Japan

How safe is Japan to invest ? and which part of Tokyo you should consider ? -crime rate-

Do you want to buy a house or invest in Japan ?
If you’re considering an international investment property, step one is to find a good real estate agent who understands the country’s regulations,
especially if you’re not fluent in the local language.
Next question is what sort of criteria for judgement do you have in your mind for finding a property ?

If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll never find it.
How about crime rate ?
Good.

Japan is safe.
Having lived in Kobe, Kawasaki, Tokyo, Sydney, Gold Coast, London
and travelled over 25 countries, I can assure it. And crime rates are an important indicator to analyze when looking for an investment property.
Buying the property in a high crime country or area can be risky not only to you, but also to your investment or even to your tenants.
High crime generally reduces the values of properties in a given area.
A study in USA for example, found that a 10 percent reduction in homicides resulted in an 0.83 percent increase in housing values the following year.
Needless to say, people in Japan do care about the safety in the neighborhood.
I am not saying that you can’t make money in areas with higher crime.
There could be a good number of investments in areas with a relatively high crime rate. There are still?plenty of good people in those areas that you can make money renting or selling to.
But the important thing is to know what you are getting into.
It is important up front to decide what kind of risk tolerance you have and what types of areas you are willing to invest in.
But how safe is Japan ?
Once you’ve decided on what kind of areas(countries) you are looking to invest in,
you can start to research them. Always ask Google first.
Here is the some statical data on some developed countries by UN, GLOBAL STUDY on HOMICIDE 2013.

UN GLOBAL HOMICIDE DATA 2013

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How can you know if your property in Japan is a good investment ?

There are a number of options and variations in the real estate investment opportunities in Japan.
You can invest in the condominiums, residential buildings, flipping the existing houses, flipping the abandoned houses, office buildings
boutique hotels and small hostels so on.
You also have to decide the area you want to invest.
Is it in Tokyo, neighboring areas of Tokyo or local cities which usually offer more attractive yields ?
Each option has both pluses and minuses.
In this article today, however, I will discuss in general what I think a good rental property is and what things to look at when you are considering buying a property for the investment in Japan.
In my opinion, you need to consider the following factors.
Monthly cash flow, the location, the value (appreciation), the condition of the property, the market and your age.
Taxes and other factors need to be considered as well.
Understanding the tax angles when you buy the property in Japan Part-1

Understanding the tax angles when you buy the property in Japan Part-2

Brief on Inheritance tax in Japan as of 2017

Among the above factors, the first thing I look is the monthly cash flow.

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Is only Tokyo worth investing in Japan ?

 


(Fukuoka city: Image was provided by Fukuoka city official site)
As we discussed in the previous post, we always recommend
foreign investors to start looking at Tokyo as the prime location to invest
in properties however, in addition to Tokyo, there are a few big local cities
where attractive investment opportunities exist.
Fukuoka city in Kyushu island is one of them.
Where is Fukuoka city ?
Fukuoka city is one of twelve government-designated cities

(namely large cities) such as Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya
and has a population of 1.53 million people.(vs. 9.21 million in Tokyo 23 wards)
Here is the latest official forecast of its population and household
in the future announced by the Fukuoka city official.

(Please click the image to enlarge)
Its population will increase until 2035 and
notably the number of household (another important indicator for real estate
investing) will continue to grow until 2040 (or possibly beyond)
In Japanese real estate investing, the population matters so their
future is very bright.
Its gross population is ranked 5th in the government-designated cities.
In terms of population increase and population growth rate,
Fukuoka city tops in twelve cities.
From the global perspective, in ‘Livability ranking’ published by

MONOCLE magazine in London, Fukuoka city is ranked
14th in the world.Read more

How is the institutional investor looking upon the Japanese market ?


Many foreign investors may be hesitant to buy real estate in Japan where the declining birthrate

and the aging population are progressing. Compared with the emerging
Asian market such as  Thailand and Vietnam,in terms of the macro view, you could be right.
However it is also true that real estate investment should be aimed at
generating stable earnings from a long-term perspective.
It is said that the stability and transparency of the Japanese market is
very attractive for foreign investors.
I mean the market growth is not everything.
Today we will discuss the strategy of a major Japanese real estate

corporation, Mitsui Fudonsan that can be a good measuring instrument to assess the real estate market in Japan.
Individual investors also can leverage such information and better understand
the market in Japan.

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