Editor’s Note: Real Estate Japan K.K. does not endorse the views expressed in any of the articles and the opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and publications included below. The links below are purely for informational purposes only.

This is a weekly news summary taken from Real Estate Japan’s Twitter feed.  If you’d like to see these articles as they go online throughout the week, follow us on Twitter at “Real Estate Nihon”.

Let’s get started:

High-rise condominium living that’s been brought back down to earth (via The Japan Times)

In the months right after last year’s March 11 earthquake, sales of condominiums in Tokyo dropped 30 percent compared to the previous year. Much of the drop was in areas surrounding Tokyo Bay, which is basically land fill. Fears of liquefaction caused potential buyers of tower condos to reconsider, and for a while the media surmised that planned high-rise housing projects might be abandoned.  Click here to continue reading.

Private property rights block anti disaster plans (via The Daily Yomiuri)

This is the fifth installment in the second half of the first part of a series of articles examining ways to restore Japan’s vitality.  Seventeen years have passed since the Great Hanshin Earthquake devastated and paralyzed Kobe. Almost 16 years on from the disaster, a highway dubbed “a symbolic road of recovery” was finally completed.  Click here to continue reading.

Condo delay hurts sales at top developers (via The Japan Times)

Sales at some of Japan’s five major real estate companies shrank in the nine months to Dec. 31 from a year earlier because the March 11 earthquake delayed the completion of condominiums, according to earnings results released by Thursday.  Click here to continue reading.

BBC Lists Lend Lease Among 4 Bidders for White City, Times Says (via Bloomberg)

Lend Lease Corp. (LLC), Australia’s largest property developer, is among four bidders shortlisted for The British Broadcasting Corp.’s headquarters in west London, the Times reported, without citing anyone.  The shortlist includes Stanhope, a developer backed by Japan’s Mitsui Fudosan, Sir Stuart Lipton’s Chelsfield Partners and Resolution Property, the Times said.  Click here to continue reading.

Tokyo Apartments For Sale | Tokyo Apartments For Rent | Real Estate Japan