On February 10th, the Real Estate Information Network for East Japan (REINS; pronounced “rains”) released their Market Watch Summary Report for January of 2022.

The number of transactions for second hand condos in the Greater Tokyo Area (GTA) decreased 20.7% Year-on-Year (YoY) to 2,760 transactions in January, a significant decrease.

The GTA consists of Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures

August of 2021 saw a similarly significant drop in second hand condo transactions, down 14.3% YoY, then rebounding while still in the negative, to -4.6%, -5.4% and -5.6% YoY for September, October and November respectively. 

December of 2021 printed a positive transaction volume change at 13.7% YoY which can be explained by sellers needing to dispose of properties before the year changed so as to avoid being responsible for 2022 property taxes.

January's data broken down by prefecture saw Tokyo print 1,430 transactions (down 19.4% YoY), 328 transactions in Saitama (down 19.6% YoY), 351 transactions in Chiba (down 15.8% YoY), and 651 transactions in Kanagawa (down 26.0% YoY).

The average sold price per square meter rose for the 21st consecutive month to an average of 641,800 yen (up 11.5% YoY). The average sold property price was 41.49 million yen (up 10.0% YoY), the 20th consecutive month of increase. 

The number of newly registered properties on the REINS system was 12,597 in January. Total inventory currently on market decreased for the 26th consecutive month to 36,632 listings (down 1.1% YoY).

The number of sales transactions for second hand freestanding homes in the GTA decreased to 997 (down 17.9% YoY).  The average sold property price was 34.97 million yen (up 7.0%), marking the 15th consecutive month of increase.  Inventory was 13,403 listings (down 22.3% YoY). 

In Japan, brokers are not legally bound to report sales transactions, so the REINS data is voluntarily reported by brokerage firms in order to lessen their listing fees to use the platform; the more transactions reported, the less in advertising costs for the brokers. 

However, this voluntary aspect of transaction reporting has been the same for years, ensuring the YoY comparisons are measuring apples to apples.

Further Reading

Real Estate Information Network for East Japan Market Watch Summary Report for January of 2022 (Japanese only; February, 2022)