Office vacancies in Tokyo ratchet back from record high

Tokyo's office vacancy rate fell in July from a record high, according to Miki Shoji Co., a privately held office brokerage.

The measure of unoccupied office units fell to 9.1 percent last month from 9.14 percent in June, marking its first decline since January 2008, Tokyo-based Miki Shoji said in a report.

The monthly drop in vacancies in Tokyo comes as the nation's largest developers, including Mitsui Fudosan Co. and Mitsubishi Estate Co., forecast the number of empty units will decline in the current business year.

"We have started to see signs of recovery in our office buildings," Seizo Kuramoto, executive managing director of Mitsui Fudosan, said at an earnings briefing last week.

Mitsubishi Estate estimates vacancies at its office buildings will drop to 3.7 percent by March from 4.46 percent in June. Mitsui Fudosan expects to see its rate peak at around 4.6 percent during the fiscal year and fall to about 4 percent by the end of March, Kuramoto said.