Tag Archive for Property

Controversial Japanese Government’s new immigration policy: PM Abe uses the acute labor shortage to push for relaxing the immigration law

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（A view from Japanese kominka house, folk house)

Japan is facing the serious shortage of workforce and ageing problem.
How should this country cope with a serious population decline and sustain the vitality of its society and economy?
According to Yomiuri shimbun, the overall shortage is estimated to be 580,000 at present, and was projected to reach 1.45 million five years from now. After subtracting from these figures increases in the number of elderly and women workers and the like, a maximum of 47,000 foreign workers will be accepted in the fiscal year when the planned revisions of the immigration control law take effect, and up to 345,000 over the five years from the revisions.
The government and the ruling camp, led by the Liberal Democratic Party(LDP), will now shift their focus to a key bill to revise the immigration control law and create new residence status in order to allow Japan to accept more foreign workers.Time employed under new visas won’t count toward working period requirement for permanent residency.
The Justice Ministry does not intend to count time spent employed under one of two new visas set to be introduced spring 2018 when checking whether those who apply for permanent residency status meet requirements.One of the prerequisites for permanent residency in Japan is having five years of work experience in the country. But according to the sources, those working under the new proposed visa status — which will be available to individuals with considerable knowledge or experience in areas where human resources are lacking in the nation – will not be able to cite time spent under this status as working time when they apply for permanent residency.
The new visa, along with another type intended for individuals with more seasoned skills in areas similar to those under the first type, is aimed at making up for labor shortages in certain job categories, and will open the door to more foreign blue-collar workers.
In the meantime, the ministry is still considering how to handle time spent working in Japan under the second type of visa.

(Hakuba, Nagano prefecture)

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Discover restful and super-affordable properties in Chiba Boso peninsula: Within easy reach from Tokyo

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（Boso peninsula)

* Foreigners can buy a property in Japan without having special qualification.

Explore the charming houses by the lovable ocean and beach
New listings in Boso peninsula, Chiba prefecture!
If you live in Tokyo and want to buy a second house near the ocean and beach,  I always recommend Boso peninsula (Kamogawa city, Katsuura city, Minamiboso city, Tateyama city etc). The location is excellent and it takes only 1.5 hours from central Tokyo by car.
You can drive on a highway all through to Kamogawa city from Tokyo and there is no traffic. If you don’t want to drive and rather want to indulge in drinking a beer on the way, there is very comfortable express bus service from Tokyo station. The seafoods and vegetables are nice and fresh (In fact, Chiba prefecture is a major supplier of seafood and vegetables to Tokyo Metropolitan kitchens so nice foods you are eating in Tokyo are often produce of Chiba).  Izu peninsula area in Shizuoka prefecture is also very famous for nice beaches and onsen (hot springs) but Izu’s location is not perfect. It takes about 3.5 hours by car to Izu Shirahama beach from Tokyo. In the modern busy life, proximity matters.
In Boso peninsula, they have great surf in the pacific ocean and the quality of sea water is superb.  (Believe me you can’t imagine how good the quality of water is in Kamogawa city  which is merely 1.5 hours away from Tokyo). In 2020, Tokyo Olympics surfing competition will be held in Katsuura city. According to one of my surfer friends, Boso peninsula is the best surfing spot in Japan.
Today I picked up two interesting properties in Boso Peninsula, Chiba prefecture.


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Akiya (unused house) for sale, 50 mins from Tokyo : Is it really a good investment ?

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* Foreigners can buy a property in Japan without having special qualification.

Japan has too many houses and there are more than 8 million empty houses/rooms here (which accounts for 13% of total number of properties).  Houses that are not used for a long time is called ‘akiya’ (空き家) in Japanese or ‘Empty house’ .Some home owners are virtually sitting on the empty houses doing nothing due to various reasons. And more and more individual investors are paying attention to this akiya market. 
In the light of Suruga bank scandal, Japanese banks are generally tightening their lending stance for the individuals investors.
Their business with institutional investors, of course,  are as usual but individuals investors are facing more challenging situation.
I am beginning to see more bogus-like hyperbole ads by rogue agents to lure the naive investors.
Please be careful and skirt such dangerous investment.
Individual investors are, in fact, shifting their eyes more towards akiya investment (abandoned house) because akiya investment does not require the large cash payment and offer the relatively attractive yield (return) . We recently spotted the following two properties in Chiba prefecture (Chiba prefecture is right next to Tokyo Metropolitan)  and are happy to share the information with you.
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Japan market update. How are big players betting ? : Is it in the state of bubble ?

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JLL-Japan (JLL is an American professional services and investment management company specializing in real estate) recently held the conference in Tokyo with 400 participants from 250 companies.

JLL reported very bullish news about Tokyo market as follows: 

“Tokyo overtook London as the world’s busiest real estate market in the first quarter of 2018, with mega-deals and an unusually positive economic outlook driving demand.

Investment volumes in the Japanese capital more than doubled to US$9.1 billion in the three months to March (2017: US$4.3 billion), just beating New York (US$9 billion) and way ahead of third-placed London (US$5.9 billion).

Global deal volumes rose 15 percent to US$165 billion, making the start of 2018 the biggest quarter for commercial real estate deals since 2007. Asia Pacific transactions rose 34 percent to US$40 billion.”

Tokyo will continue to see the many office construction sites till 2020 and it would make the rental growth slow but the rents have been steady and are still rising.

According to a report by the prominent Japanese real estate consulting firm ‘Sanki shoji’, the vacancy rate of offices in upscale locations in Tokyo as of September 2018 stands at only 2.33 percent (down 0.12 percent from the previous month) and the rents have been steadily rising in last twelve months.
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Financing your real estate investment in Japan: Suruga bank scandal. Is it facing the risk of contraction ?

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Pressure mounts to enact inquiry by FSA on other banks ?

Recently the Financial Services Agency (FSA) ordered Suruga Bank to stop extending fresh loans for real estate investment for six months, over its improper practices related to such financing.
In recent years, the FSA has strengthened its oversight of surveillance over building financing for rental houses that have spread as tax saving measures for inheritance tax. There are an increasing number of examples of building properties in areas with low rental demand and inability to obtain enough rent income assumed by increasing vacancy.
There are cases in which loans can not be repaid and leading to the foreclosures.Those who are affluent with the upscale property have been targeted by the developers of new apartment buildings and the real estate companies.
Since around 2010, these developers and real estate companies have focused not only on loans involved in landowner’s tax saving measures but also on loans to individuals who do not own the land with limited self-funding. Then shared house scandal involving Suruga bank and Smart days (operator of shared house) exposed to the light in early 2018.Read more

The best buy places to own a new condo unit in Japan

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（Kashiwa station, Chiba)

Do you want to know the best buy places to own a condo unit in Japan ?

Toyokeizai, one of the renowned business magazines in Japan
recently featured the unique real estate (condo unit for home) information in Japan.

The magazine picked up some best buy railways stations in greater Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya to own for your home.

The ranking is based on unique method of PER (Price Earning Ratio).
This particular PER is used to calculate the length (years) to pay back the property price
(new 3 bed room unit with 70 m2) if you rent out.

For example, Read more

Priceless Opportunity : Magnificent House in Yakushima (World Heritage) and Huge Land for sale

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(View from the property)

One of my good friends in the industry has just listed a beautiful house in Yakushima.

The small, remote island of Yakushima, which lies off the southern coast of the southernmost of Japan’s four major islands, Kyushu, is shaped something like the Hawaiian isle of Kauai. And just as on that other circular bit of rock over 4,000 miles away across the North Pacific, visitors arrive here seeking respite in subtropical rain forests and mountains. (from NYT)

Situated in the sacred island, this sophisticated new construction is in the exclusive Yakushima island.
The property boasts 1932 square meters of forest land and the fantastic ocean-view.
The house is compact wooden with a toilet which is equipped with the natural disintegrator system.
You don’t need the sewerage.
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Buying a house in Japan ? Here’s all-too common mistakes to avoid

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We don’t need to tell you about the brilliance of Japan quality: detailed, good service and competitive price etc etc.  But for how good Japan quality in general is, it’s equally easy to screw up. Badly.
Japan’s real estate industry and construction industry are full of fraudulent companies.
A number of them are rogue (of course, there are good and trustworthy companies, too.)
You need to be very careful to deal with them.
When you build your brand-new house in Japan, you must be extra mindful because it could be a disaster if it goes wrong.
It is widely known to the industry professionals that the laws are not necessarily protecting the consumers
(customers).
Why is the owner (consumer) in so disadvantageous position ?

There are five main reasons.
1.The industry is not seeking a repeat business so they don’t look after customers well
2. High overhead cost
3. The related laws have many loopholes
4. The owner(customer) trusts the contractor  (real estate agents and builders included) too much
5. Victim’s tragic stories are not widely reported in the media.

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You want to get Japan’s green card by the real estate investment ? : Here is what you practically should do

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Here is an idea worth considering. Imagine being able to get Japan’s new green card only in a year.
Japan needs more skilled foreign workers.
To attract more foreign workers, Japanese government relaxed requirements for permanent residency (so-called green card) last April (2018)
Before relaxing the requirement, high skilled professional (HSP) workers had to stay in Japan for at least five years before applying for green card, but now just one year is required.
In fact, it is the fastest green card system in the developed countries.
Some pundits are saying relaxed law will bring more foreign high skilled workers but whether it will be a game-changer remains to be seen.
Japan is also said to be a tough country for foreign workers to live due to the very unique traditions such as corporate culture and seniority system, which is another hurdle to clear even after obtaining the green card.
In 2012, Japan introduced a point system for skilled workers. The points are given based on individual backgrounds, including business experience, income, Japanese-language fluency and academic degrees. The system is intended to give preferential status to such skilled workers, including a shortened path for permanent residency.  When the system was enacted, those who had 70 points or more could apply for green card after five years. Normally, it takes 10 years to apply for the status.

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Pitfall of the condo unit investment in Japan : Management company and work matter

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There are many apartment buildings which are failing in the their management in Japan.If you live in the apartment buildings you have to be cautiously attentive how your building is managed.

What about the property for the investment ?

KENBIYA (major Japanese property web site) recently wrote an interesting story about the management of the residential buildings (both for living and investment) 

As an investor, perhaps the management of the building does not seem to be your business but I have to warn you that actually the management of many residential buildings for the investment is more likely to
be failing.

But Why  ?

The reason is very simple. Owners (investors) don’t care because they don’t live there.
In some cases monthly management fee (管理費）is not paid by many owners, management fee (fund) is spent improperly. In some cases someone took the money and run away.

Case 1
Serious trouble of the property for investment that were built the bubble period.
One of the relatively common examples is the an apartment in Tokyo, which is close to the city center.
These buildings (usually with units of studios) were built as a tax saving measure for salaried workers in the bubble period.

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