What do people think will happen when there’s a 12 year recession, foreign capital flight, record unemployment, record bankruptcies, and a glut of office space?
Helloo??
Tokyo Office Vacancy Rate of 7.75% Empties Space on Periphery, Too
The vacancy rate for office space in central Tokyo climbed 0.4% last month, to 7.75% according to the latest survey by Miki Shoji, a brokerage that compiles and reports the number monthly, Nihon Keizai and Yomiuri reported. The rate, which represents an average for the city’s five central wards, is almost double that of a year ago. Several companies have recently terminated leases in Chuo and Chiyoda wards, to move to new buildings near Shinagawa station, and space in some new buildings has gone begging. Miki Shoji estimated that 1.54 million sq.m. (16.6 million sq.ft.) in the five wards is vacant–a high that stretches back a dozen years. As a result, average rents are down 3.6% from a year ago, to Yen 19,375/tsubo, or $4.53/sq.ft., and landlords are offering bargains never before seen in the postwar years, like six months’ free rent to move in. The Tokyo vacancy rate is also beginning to have an effect in smaller cities on the metropolitan periphery, according to the Ikoma Data Service. The vacancy rate around JR Chiba station was 22.1% at the end of last year, while 20.1% of space was empty in Atsugi, 18.8% in Saitama City, and the Yokohama rate ranges from 10-13%. With 40 more buildings due to be completed in downtown Tokyo this year, the city’s real estate market looks like it’s on the brink of a crash, Yomiuri said. The new 45-story Izumi Garden Tower in Roppongi has attracted few tenants, and the average vacancy rate in a dozen new developments stands at 29.5%.
via Japan digest