Global RE Investors Eye Japan

Japan’s commercial real estate market has traditionally been dominated by domestic investors with international capital accounting for around 20 percent over the past decade, declining from a high of 35 percent in 2007, according to JLL. With the onset of COVID-19, and the potential for a dip in values, investors who once shied away from the market’s high prices and stiff domestic competition are now scouting for opportunities. Global real estate investors are looking for deals in Japan’s major cities, part of a worldwide hunt for safe-havens amid ongoing economic uncertainty and the COVID-19 pandemic. “Japan will probably emerge as one of the more attractive investment destinations for cross-border capital in the second half of 2020,” says Stuart Crow, CEO, Capital Markets, Asia Pacific, JLL. “Global investors have long-desired greater exposure to Japan, and with a slight price correction, there will be greater opportunities.”