Japan may have previously abhorred foreign labour but as their population declines and ages, they may be pushed to relax immigration laws. This may also increase the demand for real estate, and in particular since Japan’s Airbnb scene is also rather active, those who own a piece of prime real estate in the country will have profits to reap in the long run.
Photo credit: Mitsui Fudosan Residential and City Developments
Singapore developer, City Developments (CDL) has recently been taking up stakes in various Japanese properties such as Park Court Aoyama The Tower, a 163-unit residential project in the Aoyama area within the Minato ward, where high-end businesses and exclusive residential areas surrounded by modern eateries and pretty parks reside. In fact, with 26 storeys of freehold apartments ranging from 389 sq ft to 3,789 sq ft, the property looks set to attract both domestic and foreign buyers. Prices for the units will start at 178.8 million yen (approximately S$2.3 million) for a 1-bedder to 271 million yen (approximately S$3.5 million) for a 3-bedroom apartment. Only 55 units were released in its initial launch in Japan where show flats are already available for public viewing.
Besides residential properties, hotels and commercial business spaces are also hot properties, quite literally. CDL’s hospitality unit, Millennium and Copthorne Hotels have already staked claim on a prime Ginza site for their flagship 329-room hotel and have invested in 3 other hotels as well. The CDL group also has stakes in 2 other residential developments. Despite the uncertain economic climate, Japan remains one of the more active real estate markets in the Asia-pacific region thus value appreciation will work in favour of property owners for quite some time yet.
