TOKYO: Mie Kawamata dreamed of owning a home where she could tend a small garden and her 1-year-old daughter could play outside, yet still be close enough to commute to central Tokyo.
After weathering decades of deflation and stagnant growth, Japan is seeing an investment boom that has made apartments in central Tokyo unaffordable for young Japanese professionals. A 60 sq m apartment in Tokyo now costs 15 times a skilled worker's salary, up from 10 times a decade ago and well above London, Singapore and New York, the UBS report showed.
Foreigners have piled more than 1.8 trillion yen into Japanese real estate since 2019, outstripping flows from institutional investors, property funds, and corporations, according to consultancy Cushman & Wakefield. Average condo prices in central Tokyo were bumped up in the past year by a large supply of high-end residences hitting the market. Emblematic of that is the new Azabudai Hills complex, featuring the country's largest office tower and about 1,400 residential units.
"In Japan, the political and economical situation is stable," Wang said about the attractiveness of the market."Tokyo is still not that expensive compared to other big cities like Hong Kong and London."