Hong Kong investors continue to make waves in Japan’s real estate market, rivalling those from the US, Singapore and mainland China
Global investors, including those based in Hong Kong, are channelling their funds into Japan’s residential property market as returns from assets in mainland China sag in the midst of a four-year slump, according to market consultants.
They ploughed in US$11.2 billion of capital into Japanese real estate in the first quarter, or 6 per cent above the five-year average, according to data compiled by Colliers, making it the fifth largest recipient globally. Investors from the US, Singapore and Hong Kong were the top three contributors to the inflows, it said.
Even investors from mainland China are looking east: they poured US$1 billion into Japanese real estate in the same period, more than double the five-year average of US$428 million. In the residential sector, local and foreign funds spent US$1.2 billion in the first quarter, a 16 per cent increase from a year earlier, according to JLL.
“Hong Kong investors have traditionally focused on China, but the collapse of the Chinese real estate market has redirected capital flows towards more stable markets such as Japan and Australia,” said Masahiro Tanikawa, head of investment services at Colliers Japan. Both countries “offer a deep and liquid multifamily investment market – one of the largest in the Asia-Pacific region”, he added.
