Market News
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2024-09-24
APAC living sector attracts investor attention
Kensho is specializing in German and European investment in residential real estate in Japan. The background: As the head of the Kensho predecessor Kenzo Capital Corporation, our President and CEO Dr. Leonard Meyer zu Brickwedde launched the first German special fund for Japanese residential real estate in 2017.
Therefore, we are pleased to read that the so-called “living sector” in Asian-Pacific countries is continuing to attract the attention of foreign investors. A new report by CBRE explicitly states that Japan is leading the region in living sector investment volumes, with its multifamily sector being the most developed market, attracting institutional capital, REITs, and global investors.
“In Tokyo the yield spread for multifamily over office assets is 50-55 basis points,” told Ada Choi, Head of Research, Asia Pacific for CBRE, the journal Real Estate Asia.
The living sector in Asia Pacific is encompassing student housing, co-living, serviced apartment, rental housing/multifamily, and senior living. Investors are attracted by the growth of the region’s expatriate population, low homeownership affordability, and the effectiveness of rental residential investments as an inflation hedge, says the CBRE report.”The lure of the living sector: How the APAC living sector is attracting investor attention”
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2024-07-16
More real estate assets at world’s largest pension fund in Japan
The institutional real estate market in Japan has further matured with big institutional investors diving into real estate assets. One of the prime examples is the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world’s biggest public pension fund. Its wealth is used to supplement the payment of basic pensions in Japan.
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2024-03-14
Contract prices for existing condominiums rise in February
Interesting data from the Real Estate Information Network Center (RIPO) about the latest property trends for all designated distribution networks in Japan.
The average contract price of existing condominiums was 38.62 million yen (up 10.41% year-on-year), and the average unit price per square meter was 581,100 yen (up 9.75% year-on-year), both of which increased for the 45th consecutive month.
The average private-use floor space increased for the second consecutive month to 67.72 square meters (up 0.50% y-o-y). The average age of the building was 24.06 years (down 1.92% y-o-y), rejuvenating for the second consecutive month. The number of contracts concluded was 6,233 (up 2.82% YoY).
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2024-01-15
CEO Insight: Japan proves its reliability even during disasters
Intensive preparations for emergencies reduce the impact of earthquakes and preserve the value of Japanese real estate.
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2023-06-15
Arab investment in Japanese real estate
Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds worldwide, has formed a joint venture with Proprium Capital Partners and Manulife Investment Management to develop a $600 million property portfolio in Japan. Asset manager Samurai Capital — which has experience in managing multi-family assets in Japan— will also be a partner in this venture. Thomas Wong, partner of Proprium Capital Partners, makes an interesting argument for investing in Japanese residential real estate: “We believe that these properties will outperform the market and generate positive returns for our investors. Through the collaboration between Proprium and our co-investors, we look forward to scaling up in the Japan multifamily sector.” The portfolio will target urban dwellers in Tokyo and Osaka, and these residential dwellings will also offer convenient access to railway stations and nearby neighborhood amenities.
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2023-05-26
A balanced assessment of the Japanese real estate market
Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation has published two new real estate market research reports. The reports contain many useful data and are fully accessible (see links on the attached webpage). Here are some findings for Japan: Investors’ willingness to invest in real estate is weakening, especially in the U.S. and Europe. Japan is experiencing a weakening, too, though to a much lesser extent. Also different from Europe and the U.S., lenders’ lending attitudes in Japan generally remain favorable. The number of real estate asset management companies that expect “inflows of investment funds” and “declining yields” as changes that will occur in the real estate investment market over the next year has declined significantly. There is upward pressure on cap rates, and foreign investors, in particular, who have dominated the market, are showing a cautious attitude. Investors who have been looking for opportunities to acquire properties may see this as an expansion of opportunities to acquire properties at yields that suit their needs.
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2023-05-15
Chip investments to cause property deals
The Japanese government is subsidizing new semiconductor plants. These investments are also supporting fresh real estate investments in rather neglected regions like Kyushu and Hokkaido. According to the South China Morning Post report, the Hongkong-based investor Gaw Capital Partners has noticed this trend. Gaw already manages 3.8 billion dollar of property assets in Japan and now looks at the western island of Kyushu where the Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC is building an 8 billion dollar plant in Kumamoto prefecture in collaboration with Sony, to be completed later this decade. The Taiwanese company is planning a second factory in Kumamoto for completion in the late 2020s, Nikkan Kogyo reported in February. Real estate prices in Kumamoto have already gone up.
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2023-04-20
Japan hotels draw foreign investors at scale unseen in years
Foreign investors are discovering a new target for their real estate asset purchases in Japan. Overseas buyers were responsible for 47% of the 494.3 billion yen ($3.7 billion) invested in hotel deals that closed in the past 12 months — the highest proportion since 2014, according to data at the end of March from research firm MSCI Real Assets. The tourism rebound, low interest rates and the weak yen are fueling interest.
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2023-04-13
Tokyo Metropolitan Area residential land prices increase for 11th consecutive quarter
Another confirmation regarding the resilience of Japanese real estate: Nomura Real Estate Solutions has announced the results of a survey on “residential land price trends” in the Tokyo metropolitan area as of April 1, 2023. The average rate of change for the January-March quarter of 2023 for residential areas in the Tokyo metropolitan area was 0.7% (previous survey: 0.7%), the 11th consecutive quarter of positive growth. By area, all areas posted positive figures for the 11th consecutive quarter. Tokyo (23 wards) 1.1% (1.3%), Tokyo (overall) 0.9% (0.5%), Kanagawa 0.5% (0.3%), Saitama 0.6% (0.5%), Chiba 0.5% (0.7%).
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2023-03-06
Sapporo grows its relevance in real estate
A connection to the Shinkansen network usually increases the real estate value in cities that become stops of the new line. You can see such a development in real-time now in Hokkaido: Sapporo Station is undergoing a major transformation in conjunction with the extension of the Shinkansen bullet train. Completion of the last section from Shin-Hakodate to the last stop Sapporo, about 211 kilometers, is scheduled for 2030. The “future shape” of the station was announced by a study group including the City of Sapporo and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism. The new Shinkansen station building will be built on Sosegawa Dori, with a 245-meter-high, glass-walled skyscraper in front of it. The bus terminal will also undergo a major transformation. As a result, real estate prices in the area are expected to rise.