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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Jan 25, 2021

Pandemic-era central banking is creating bubbles everywhere

In 2020, cheap money, gushing in from the world's major central banks, inflated assets and reshaped how we save, invest and spend.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2020

How the world’s most expensive skyscraper deal turned sour

The background of the investors behind the record-breaking deal drew as much interest as the transaction itself.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 18, 2023

Overseas share of Japan hotel investments at highest level since 2014

Observers say a combination of low rates, the weak yen and market stability has made Japanese real estate attractive for global investors amid pervasive economic uncertainty.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Sep 20, 2021

The global housing market is broken, and it’s dividing entire countries

The perennial issue of housing costs has become one of acute housing inequality, and an entire generation is at risk of being left behind.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2021

Selling out: America's local landlords. Moving in: Big investors

Many housing campaigners say the growing presence of big investors in the market will inevitably mean higher rents and less affordable housing available.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 29, 2016

Japan's 'quiet property bubble' faces end as transactions slide

The number of property transactions in the nation has tumbled, rents have been muted and inflation expectations have waned — all of which has prompted a growing number of analysts and economists to turn bearish on property prices, which have been recovering since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power...
BUSINESS / Economy
May 16, 2023

Struggling hot spring resorts get boost from Chinese investors

Many Chinese buyers of inns and hotels are willing to pay twice the market price to take them over, according to sellers and industry sources.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 30, 2022

Singapore sovereign wealth fund eyes Japan property deals as yen falls and tourists return

Hotels, resorts and inns in key cities are among the types of properties being evaluated.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 1, 2022

China Evergrande falls short of promised restructuring plan

Adding to setbacks, the company said in a filing Sunday that one of its units will need to sell shares of a bank in northeastern China, after losing an arbitration ruling.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 13, 2022

Chinese homebuyers across 22 cities refuse to pay mortgages

The payment refusals underscore how the storm engulfing China's property sector is now affecting the country's middle class.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 1, 2022

Tycoons keep building Hong Kong offices as vacancies jump

The oversupply underscores an unprecedented challenge to property developers as they grapple with an expat exodus and some of the world's harshest border controls to curb the virus.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2022

Opaque governance has investors eyeing other data to see if China housing clampdown is easing

Money managers are looking at indicators such as sales data, household loans, bond sales and equity placements for a more detailed picture of developers' funding stress.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Dec 15, 2021

Hong Kong’s property tycoons sacrifice profit to appease Beijing

Two years after protests rocked the city and Chinese authorities pointed a finger of blame at sky-high home prices, developers are under pressure to help ease its housing crisis.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Dec 13, 2021

Abandoned projects shatter confidence in China’s home market

Across China, scores of unfinished apartment buildings — the legacy of a real estate boom gone awry in 2021 — are derailing countless dreams of owning a home.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2021

Evergrande dodges default again with last-minute payments but concerns remain

The world's most indebted real-estate developer is grappling with more than $300 billion in liabilities, $19 billion of which are international market bonds.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Nov 1, 2021

China's property woes put prestige global projects in play

China's property sector woes could spell trouble for prestige mega-projects in London, New York, Sydney and other top cities as the developers behind them scramble for cash.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2021

Evergrande debt woes are manageable, China central bank official says

In rare official comments, Zou Lan, head of financial markets at the People's Bank of China, urged Evergrande to step up asset disposals and the resumption of projects.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Sep 17, 2021

China’s nightmare Evergrande scenario is an uncontrolled crash

The timing is particularly tricky as China juggles an economic slowdown, a sweeping crackdown on the private sector and rising tensions with Washington.
Customers line up patiently for some early-afternoon baked goods outside Truffle, which is located close to Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Line.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Apr 13, 2025

How to spend the perfect day in Hiroo, Tokyo’s expat enclave

A stroll through Hiroo reveals both the comforts of expat luxury and the quiet intrusions of a changing Tokyo.
Residential buildings in the Kachidoki area of Tokyo. The average unit price of newly supplied condominiums in the greater Tokyo area in the first six months of this year reached the highest level for the six-month period due to rising material and labor costs and higher land prices.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2023

Tokyo's new condo prices surge 60% to a record in first half of year

The average price of a new apartment in central Tokyo jumped 60% to ¥129.6 million ($930,000) in the January to June period.
U.S. and Japanese authorities are concerned that purchases of farmland near military bases and other critical facilities will allow China and other governments to spy on or interfere with their operations.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2023

For the best espionage, it’s location, location, location

Efforts by Chinese companies to purchase land — often, but not exclusively, agricultural — has authorities in Japan and the United States up in arms.
Japan’s first trading of digital securities will begin next month in the form of security tokens issued by real estate firms.
BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2023

Japan to start digital securities trading from December

The trading of security tokens issued by real estate firms Ichigo and Kenedix will begin on the Osaka Digital Exchange.
The average price of a new apartment for sale in Tokyo and surrounding areas surged 29% to a fresh high of ¥81 million in 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 25, 2024

Tokyo apartment prices reach record high for third straight year

Prices are expected to keep climbing in 2024 even as the economy slows and the Bank of Japan looks to abandon its negative interest-rate policy.
In Tokyo's 23 wards, the average unit price of new condominiums in 2023 soared about 40% from the previous year to ¥114.83 million, topping ¥100 million for the first time.
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2024

Japan's average condo price hits record high for seventh year in 2023

The nationwide average price was pushed up by rising costs for construction materials and labor.
The average condo price in central Tokyo's 23 wards came to ¥104.64 million in fiscal 2023, topping ¥100 million for the first time on a fiscal year basis.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2024

Tokyo-area condo prices hit record high for third year in a row

In central Tokyo's 23 wards, the average condo price rose 5.7% to ¥104.64 million, topping ¥100 million for the first time.
A residential area under development by Country Garden in Shanghai in February.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 17, 2024

Old for new: China's latest property market plan off to a poor start

More than 50 cities have launched their own versions of the "swap old for new" program.
An abandoned house in Urayama, Saitama Prefecture. Buying an <i>akiya</i>, which means empty house in Japanese, can be a rewarding experience that yields a unique space and a livable home, competitively priced. Or it could turn out to be a money pit.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024

First lesson of Japan’s akiya gold rush: No such thing as a free house.

Renovations are usually the most expensive part of the journey and the laundry list of what needs to be done is long and tends to get longer after the process starts.
Southeast Asian cities like Bangkok are benefiting from an influx of global trade and investment following years of deteriorating commercial relations between the U.S. and China.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2024

Thai scion bets U.S.-China feud will ease office glut

Thailand approved over $13 billion in investments in the first half of the year, up 35% from the same period in 2023, driven by Chinese and Singaporean investors.
Residential buildings in the Toyosu area in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 11, 2023. If rising rates on real estate investment loans are seen as a burden, people may become more cautious about acquiring properties for leasing, experts warn.
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2024

Tokyo home prices are seen to largely withstand BOJ rate hikes

The days of making large profits from property in Tokyo may be over
High construction costs due to rising material and labor costs continue to push up sales prices of new condominiums.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 22, 2024

Tokyo-area condo price hits new high in first half of fiscal 2024

The average price in the area, which includes Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba, rose 1.5% from ¥78.36 million a year earlier.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.