Real Estate

Foreign Buyers and a Tourism Boom Are Fueling Japan’s Luxury Real Estate Market

05/11/2023


If the array of climates, landscapes, world-class culture, food and history aren’t tempting enough, Japan offers second-home buyers strong value compared to other Asian markets. 

As of Oct. 25, 1 yen was worth US$0.0067, reaching only a high of US$0.10 in the past three years. This helps money stretch further, even on luxury properties. In its 2023 annual wealth report, London-based real estate consultancy Knight Frank reported buyers with US$1 million to spend can purchase 60 square meters, or 636 square feet, of prime property in Tokyo, almost double of what they can get in New York or Singapore and nearly triple that of Hong Kong.

Right now luxury is on the mind of buyers in Japan as the sector grows in a manner not seen before. Traditionally, Japanese buyers have lived in modest dwellings, said Michael Chen, CEO of Hokkaido-based real estate company H2 Group.

It’s only in the

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Real Estate

The luxury real estate portfolio of the looters of Venezuela’s state oil company: 21 homes valued at $52 million | International

03/11/2023

Luxury homes, penthouses and apartments in dream skyscrapers. The former Chavista leaders – who looted more than $2 billion from Petróleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA) – put some of their ill-gotten gains in a real estate portfolio of 21 exclusive properties, which are valued at around $52 million. This is according to a confidential report from the Financial Intelligence Unit of Andorra (UIFAND), to which EL PAÍS has had access.

The criminal network made these investments while carrying out the looting of the state-owned oil company between 2007 and 2012. This was done through the organization’s alleged frontman, Luis Mariano Rodríguez Cabello. And, through several shell companies (none registering activity), the businessman – according to his testimony – purchased 19 luxury homes in Venezuela between 2008 and 2014. These properties were priced between $304,000 and $5.5 million.

Rodríguez Cabello used his 11 accounts in the Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA) –

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Real Estate

Luxury Toronto condo The One put into receivership and more Canadian real estate news for October 21

25/10/2023
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Home of the Week, 659 Avondale Rd., Newport, N.S.Sherman Hines/Sherman Hines

Here are The Globe and Mail’s top housing and real estate stories this week, with the lowest mortgage rates available in Canada today, commentary from our mortgage expert and one home worth a look.

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Canada’s bank regulator says it won’t relax stress test on mortgage renewals

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) says it will not exempt uninsured borrowers from the mortgage stress test if they switch to a different lender at renewal time, writes Rachelle Younglai. Calls from the real estate industry to relax the stress test have been growing, as the spike in mortgage rates has made it harder for borrowers to qualify for a mortgage.

The regulator said exempting all renewals from the stress test “could cause lenders to

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Real Estate

Real estate in Canada: See the luxury homes now on sale

22/10/2023

Following a strong summer, luxury real estate market sales in major Canadian cities are beginning to slow down, according to a new report from Sotheby’s International Realty Canada. But real estate experts say they’re still optimistic that the market will remain resilient through to early 2024.

The luxury real estate management brokerage’s fall report, released on Wednesday, shows that urban hubs such as the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Vancouver reported notable increases in annual sales throughout July and August before these gains moderated in September.

“In the summer, which tends to be a time when sales are a little lighter, we actually saw (July and August) increase in activity,” Don Kottick, president and CEO of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “It’s almost like the fall shifted forward a couple months and now we’re in this kind of adjustment period.”

Referencing market

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Real Estate

Climate change threatens Hong Kong's luxury cliffside mansions

03/10/2023


Hong Kong
CNN
 — 

Until recently, the upscale homes of the Redhill Peninsula seemed like an oasis for rich Hong Kongers aspiring to a tranquil lifestyle in an otherwise notoriously cramped metropolis of 7.5 million.

Its cliffside location and unobstructed views of the South China Sea made for great Feng Shui and offered the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of city life for its gated community of tycoons, expats and celebrities.

But that same pristine location worked against it on September 8, when a storm brought the heaviest rainfall in nearly 140 years to Hong Kong, wreaking havoc across the city.

Two people were killed and more than a hundred injured as more than 600mm (23.6 inches) of rain barreled down on the coastal city, flooding metro stations and turning roads into rivers.

The chaos was not confined to the flooded lowlands. Up on the edge of the

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