3 Pct of New Tokyo Condo Buyers Live Abroad: Govt Survey

Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese government survey showed Tuesday that 3.0 pct of people who bought new condominiums in Tokyo between January and June this year were overseas residents. The survey, conducted by the land ministry, also found that 8.5 pct of new condominiums in Tokyo registered from January to June last year were traded within a year, regardless of where the purchaser resides. “Speculative transactions that are not based on actual demand are undesirable, regardless of whether they are by Japanese or foreign buyers,” land minister Yasushi Kaneko said at a press conference on Tuesday. To address short-term transactions, which are seen as one of the causes of soaring condominium prices, Kaneko announced a plan to take measures in cooperation with the Real Estate Companies Association of Japan. The land ministry conducts the survey using real estate registration data held by the Justice Ministry. Foreigners living in Japan and Japanese branches of foreign companies are not classified as overseas residents since the registration records do not include nationality information. “It’s difficult to determine if the proportion of foreigners is small or not based on the results of this survey,” Kaneko said. Compared with last year, the proportion of buyers living overseas doubled from 1.5 pct to 3 pct in Tokyo, and from 1.6 pct to 3.5 pct in the capital’s 23 densely populated special wards. In Tokyo’s six central wards of Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku, Bunkyo and Shibuya, the proportion was even higher, at 7.5 pct from January to June this year. Shinjuku had the highest figure, at 14.6 pct. Meanwhile, the shares were 4.3 pct and 2.5 pct in the western cities of Osaka and Kyoto, respectively. Across the 23 Tokyo wards, overseas buyers acquired 308 condominium units in total. By country or region, Taiwan topped the list with 192 units, followed by China with 30 and Singapore with 21. The short-term transaction rate was 12.2 pct in the six central Tokyo wards, 7.2 pct in Osaka and 12.1 pct in the western city of Kobe. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]