Unnerved by US-China trade war and deterred by property prices at home, Hong Kong investors are turning to Japan for real estate
- Local investors join others from China in flocking to Japan to buy property, particularly hotels and private lodgings
- Tokyo and Osaka are the main markets of choice, with not even a tough law on home sharing introduced last year, turning off buyers
Frankie Leung Kai-ha has bought three properties in Japan over the past three years. The latest one, bought just last month, is a four-storey building that he plans to renovate into an Airbnb private lodging.
The three investments cost about the same as one medium-sized flat in the expensive urban centre of Hong Kong, where Leung lives. His latest deal also came amid the increasingly volatile trade relations between China and the United States, which threaten to undermine the economics of both countries.
“The trade war is one of the major reasons I’ve invested more in Japan. I’m quite concerned about the impact,” said the 36-year-old, who is the co-founder of a bakery in Macau. “I think it’s safer to put some money in Japanese yen in case anything happens.”
Leung is one of a growing number of citizens from China who have found interest in the Japanese property market, especially in hotels and private lodgings.
This is despite the island nation’s introduction of a tough law in June last year to regulate the home sharing market – such as Airbnb listings – which requires higher standards for shared lodging homes and limits when and where operators can run such services.
