Tag Archive for Tokyo

Tokyo Metropolitan Area Housing Prices Rise for 11 Consecutive Quarters by Nomura Real Estate

 

 

Tokyo Metropolitan Area Housing Prices Rise for 11 Consecutive Quarters

Nomura Real Estate Solutions Co., Ltd. announced the results of its

“Housing Price Trends” survey for the Tokyo metropolitan area as of April 1, 2023, on April 6.

 

The fixed-point survey is conducted quarterly, with 169 survey points.

 

The average rate of change for the first quarter of 2023 in the Tokyo metropolitan area

 

housing prices was 0.7% (the same as the previous survey),

 

marking an increase for the 11th consecutive quarter.

 

The percentage of “price increase” points rose to 31.4% (from 30.8%),

 

“stable” points decreased to 65.7% (from 66.9%), and “price decrease” points increased to 3.0% (from 2.5%).

 

By area, all regions experienced an increase for the 11th consecutive quarter.

 

Tokyo’s 23 wards increased by 1.1% (from 1.3%), Tama area of Tokyo increased by 0.9% (from 0.5%),

 

Kanagawa increased by 0.5% (from 0.3%), Saitama increased by 0.6% (from 0.5%), and Chiba increased by 0.5% (from 0.7%).

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“au Jibun Bank and SBI Sumishin Net Bank Shake Up the Japanese Home Loan Market: A Borrower’s Guide”

 

Competitive Landscape in Japan’s

Home Loan Industry

: Unraveling the Impact of

Internet-Only Banks

 

The Japanese home loan market is witnessing fierce competition, with internet-only banks

 

such as au Jibun Bank and SBI Sumishin Net Bank leading the charge.

 

 

These banks leverage their lower operating costs to offer attractive interest rates

 

on variable-rate home loans.

 

Recently, au Jibun Bank expanded its preferential rates, reaching as low as 0.196%

 

for some customers. Meanwhile, SBI Sumishin Net Bank,

 

which has a market share of around 5%, reduced its refinancing rate to 0.299%.

 

 

Traditional banks are also competing by lowering their expenses through digitization

 

and offering competitive interest rates.

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Japanese real estate essentials: What kinds of taxes are imposed on real estate in Japan? 

Tax matters.

In fact, the most expensive item in our life is not ‘real estate’ but ‘our government’.

And the government is the tax.

So what kinds of taxes are imposed on real estate in Japan? 

Real estate-related taxis include personal income tax, corporate tax, fixed-asset tax, city planning tax, real estate acquisition tax, registration tax, stamp duty, and consumption tax 

 

Personal income tax related to real estate is the tax on individuals who gain rental income or capital gain through the sales of real estate.

Corporate tax is a tax on companies that have taxable income. Therefore, their real estate rental income and any profit from a real estate sale have an impact on their total taxable income level.

The corporate tax rate in Japan is currently about 37% (as of July 2019) so if you have a very profitable property, it is wise to hold the title under a corporate name rather than an individual name.

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Japanese Real Estate Essentials: City Planning Law for the residential districts.

The city planning law, which was created by the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, exist to regulate urban development.

The law divides all Japan into mainly two parts; city planning area which is regulated by the city planning law and the non-city planning area which is not regulated by this law.

The law defines 12 zoning districts within urbanization promotion areas.

Of these zoning districts, three have a primary effect on real estate projects residential district, commercial districts and industrial district.

Specific regulations for each district such as allowable use, building coverage ratio and floor area ratio are defined by the building standards law.

When you buy a property in Japan, it is very important to know which district your property exists.

Because each district is highly regulated by the specifics of city planning law(and building standards law)

and such regulations always affect the neighbourhood.

The law regulates the hight, allowable use, building coverage ratio, floor area ratio, type of the business and the size of the business and so on.

For example, you can not open a restaurant in category 1 low-rise exclusive residential districts.

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How is the market going?: TOKYO KANTEI Monthly report June 2019 (condominium market)

Fine-looking market?

TOKYO KANTEI Monthly report June 2019

Remarks:

Source: Tokyo Kantei (June 2019) The market in central districts in Tokyo is starting to show the downtrend.

Red : Market movement (sellers listing price)

 

Tokyo Kantei (real estate think tank) just announced the latest report on the price movement of the second-hand condominium market.

 

The price of second-hand apartment buildings in major metropolitan areas continued to fall at ¥ 45.59 million in the 23 wards of Tokyo, down 1.5% from the previous month.

 

It is thought that this is due to the case share reduction in the central Tokyo area and weakness in the surrounding area.

In addition, Saitama City (-1.7%, 27.74 million yen) and Chiba City (-2.8%, 18.32 million yen) are also negative, and the rate of decline in Chiba City, where the number of cases from old buildings increased, was compared It became huge.

On the other hand, Yokohama City has maintained its upward trend, with + 0.9% at 31.12 million yen.

The average prices of major cities in the Kinki region (Osaka area) rose for three months in a row to 32.84 million yen, which is + 1.1% from

the previous month.

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Japanese real estate essentials: What is the Building Standards Law?

What is the purpose of the mission of the Building Standards Law?

The Building Standards Law (建築基準法)was created for the MLIT to provide basic rules for construction during a building and the stipulates minimum engineering safety requirements concerning fire earthquake and other natural disasters.

It also stipulates the types of buildings we can build according to each zoning district(用途地域)

under the city planning law.

A building not contracted to meet this requirement is regarded as an illegal building however a building previously constructed in compliance with a standard existing at the time of the construction but which no longer meet current construction standards is not considered as an illegal building but rather called non-conforming building. (既存不適格)

*

When you find the cheap property, please make sure if it is a non-conforming building or not. It is not a fatal mistake to buy such a property, but you have to understand what you are running into beforehand. 

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Japanese real estate essentials: What kind of laws do you need to understand before you buy a property in Japan ?

Here is  how it works : Japanese real estate essentials.

What kind of laws are protecting rights of your real estate in Japan ?

The civil law describes the general rules for the purchase and sales (and lease) of the property.

The civil law regulates ownership and superficies and also provide the definition of rights such as pledge and mortgage.

As a conventional individual, I think you only need to know how the mortgage works in Japan.

The land lease and building lease law, which is special law of civil law, provides

the general rules of land lease and building lease.

The act on sectional ownership of buildings provides the general rules on sectional ownership, meaning

the law is for the condominiums.

The real estate registration law is for the real estate registration system.

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Real estate investment in Japan : Beautiful Stories, Hard Realities

Beautiful Stories, Hard Realities

Real estate agents/realtors are always holding seminars in Tokyo, Osaka and elsewhere, luring in amateur investors (for Japanese investors so far)

and telling them beautiful stories of how this person or that person got rich in the property market.

I never exaggerate such successes in my seminars, although of course they do exist.

Instead, I always tell the audience true stories from my experience and those of other clients and inexperienced investors, and in particular about the mistakes made.

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Despite the turbulence in the residential market segment, office buildings are in shortage

The vacancy rate is historically low in almost two decades since January 2002.

The vacancy rate of office buildings  in May in the five central wards, Tokyo (business districts, Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku, Shibuya)

was announced recently by office building brokerage firm Miki Shoji in Tokyo.

The vacancy rate dropped by 0.06 points to 1.64%. 

Vacancy rate is the lowest since 2002.

Office buildings in central Tokyo continue to have very few vacancies.

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