Tag - real-estate

 
 

REAL ESTATE

Rapidus' new semiconductor plant under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido, in July
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 18, 2024
New high-profile chip plants driving up nearby land prices across Japan
Expectations for growth in demand for semiconductors has boosted demand for commercial and industrial plots, and housing.
Tokyo's Ginza area marked the highest commercial land prices this year for the 19th consecutive year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 17, 2024
Japanese average land price rises for third consecutive year
Overall land prices showed the first increase in 32 years in locations outside the three metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.
A Tokyo Star Bank branch in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2024
Tiny Japan bank looks to grow by lending to offshore homebuyers
Japan’s weak yen and low interest rates have drawn overseas interest in Japanese property and boosted prices.
Hong Kong’s property tycoons are eagerly awaiting interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve due to their struggles with slow home sales, vacant office buildings and tenants pushing for lease renegotiations.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2024
The Fed is making Hong Kong's billionaire landlords anxious
Many Hong Kong property companies have significant amounts of debt at floating interest rates tied to Hibor, which tracks the Fed's rate changes.
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.
Factory activity in China contracted for a fourth straight month in August, with subindexes showing deepening deflationary pressures.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024
China faces calls for stimulus as growth engines stall amid property woes
Factory activity contracted for a fourth month in August, with subindexes showing deflationary pressures and latest sales figures showing a worsening residential slump.
High-rise buildings under construction in Tokyo in November last year
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2024
Japan looks to expand preferential measures for Flat 35 home loans
The measures to lower interest rates for those who acquire energy-efficient or earthquake-resistant houses are currently applied only to newly made loan contracts.
The land ministry is planning to create a system in which the central and local governments would evenly shoulder part of the demolition costs that condominium management associations should pay.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2024
Japanese government to subsidize demolition of old condo buildings
The land ministry is planning to subsidize such demolitions from the fiscal year beginning April 2025.
Japan's personal mortgages are set to rise for the first time in a generation following the Bank of Japan's rate hike.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 1, 2024
Japan’s ultralow mortgages to see first increase in 17 years
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said it plans to increase the short-term prime rate for the first time in 17 years in September.
Japan's most expensive plot of land lies in front of Kyukyodo stationery store in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district, according to National Tax Agency statistics.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 1, 2024
Japan's land prices rise at fastest pace since 2010, tax agency says
Average land prices climbed 2.3% last year, rising for the third straight year.
Shanghai’s luxury real estate market is a bright spot in China’s bleak property sector.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 25, 2024
China’s rich spend millions on Shanghai property, bucking crisis
It’s the only one among the country’s mega cities that still attracts people to put down money in an asset class that has otherwise been abandoned.
A notice put up in front of a near-finished condominium in the city of Kunitachi in Tokyo on Saturday, saying the complex will be demolished
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2024
Near-finished Japan condo blocking Mount Fuji to be razed
The company Sekisui House said in a statement late Tuesday it had "voluntarily decided to discontinue the project."
A residential development under construction in Shanghai in February. Problems in the property sector have had a negative impact across broad areas of China's economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 31, 2024
China's factory activity unexpectedly dips as property pain persists
The disappointing number adds to a series of recent indicators showing the $18.6 trillion economy is struggling to get back on its feet.
Many condo complexes are facing challenges in securing sufficient reserve funds for extensive repair projects.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 30, 2024
Land ministry sets standards for condo repair reserve funds
Large-scale condo repairs typically occur roughly every 15 years.
Official data indicates at least 17,000 South Korean residents have been hit by real estate fraud in recent years, and around 70% of victims are in their 20s and 30s.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 27, 2024
Debt, suicide, fraud: South Koreans hit by real estate scams
Authorities draw flak for not doing enough to help victims or punish fraudsters who capitalize on the country's unique jeonse system in which tenants pay huge deposits.
In about a year, Wormann has taken four Tokyo "akiya" (abandoned homes) under his wing — three in Sangenjaya and the most recent in Shin-Nakano.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
May 27, 2024
The Swede bringing ‘Japandi’ style to Tokyo’s abandoned homes
The 86-year-old building Wormann acquired in Sengenjaya came with not only a degraded structure but also termite damage throughout.
Global investment firms are increasingly seeing hidden value in Japanese companies that own properties that could be sold.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2024
Bain Capital to boost Japan real estate team as prospects grow
The firm is interested in opportunities around hospitality, data centers and residential properties, among others.
Having succeeded her father, Akira Mori, Miwako Date has been CEO of real estate development firm Mori Trust since 2016.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
May 19, 2024
Leading a major property developer with an eye on art and culture
Third-generation CEO Miwako Date is making her mark with Mori Trust's regional luxury hotels.
China’s real estate sector has fundamentally changed in that existing home sales will become the norm, as is the case with developed countries.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2024
China’s housing mess finally comes for Xi’s own
China’s real estate sector has fundamentally changed, in that existing home sales will be the norm, as is the case with developed countries.
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.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past