The Olympic Games could act as a “show window” for Tokyo’s real estate, whether spectators are allowed or not. The approaching Games, as well as the increasing pace of Japan’s Covid vaccination campaign, is helping to fuel expectations for the country’s real estate investment trusts.

Last year, Japan was ranked the second most popular destination to move to, so it’s no surprise that the country also made the list in another recent worldwide survey on where people would most like to relocate for work...

Asia-Pacific industrial and logistics properties present a massive opportunity still in early innings. The majority of global institutional investors still have little to no exposure to this fast-growing, dynamic sector. Here are four examples of the trades shaping the Asian industrial real estate markets and why we are high conviction on these investment themes.

Japan is struggling with the impact of aging demographics and very high government debt levels, which limit its long-term GDP growth potential to around 1 per cent per year...

If and when a property becomes vacant, the owner would normally aim to have it cleaned up, renovated or repaired if required, then re-leased as soon as humanly possible, to allow the steady income-stream to resume ASAP. There are, however, certain periods of time, locations and property profiles which make re-populating a property a bit more challenging - and these events can require some creative thinking and solutions...

"There’s no question, we all know that we live in volatile times – the real estate markets around the world couldn’t be more speculative. Yet here, in Japan, here’s a market that focuses on steady cash flow and rental income..."

At any given time, there are over 50,000 US army & navy troops stationed all around Japan, in 24 different bases & related military facilities - from the tropical islands of Okinawa in the South-West, and all the way up to Aomori, in the North-East. Taking into account dependents, such as spouses and children, and another 5-6,000 non-enlisted US expat civilians working at the bases, this amounts to approximately 100,000 foreigners, spread all around the country, who all need a place to live...

Japan’s work culture is in many ways a legacy of decades past, a time when most women got married, quit their jobs and raised a family, while their husbands became the sole breadwinner with long work hours. Unfortunately, raising a family and caring for elderly family members has stereotyped women as the lesser valued gender in the eyes of an employer. The coronavirus is giving this inequality a shake-up...