Overseas investors accelerate the pace of hotel investment in Japan! 290 billion yen has already been invested this year, and the scramble is progressing due to depreciation of the yen

Overseas investors have invested 2 billion dollars (about 290 billion yen) in hotels in Japan in 2023 so far, and it is said that it has already exceeded 1.4 billion dollars (about 200 billion yen) last year. In addition to the recovery in inbound (foreign travelers), the depreciation of the yen is spurring the pace of investment. According to Bloomberg, the ratio of overseas investors to Japanese hotel acquisitions is the largest since 2014.

In the foreign exchange market, the dollar-yen rate is once again heading towards the 150 yen per dollar range set in October last year. While interest rate differences between Japan and the US are still widening even after the Bank of Japan YCC revisions, there is great interest in investing in real estate in Japan. Overseas investors anticipated reopening due to the COVID-19 pandemic and moved to acquire hotels in Japan from around the fall of '21, but recently the number of properties that can be purchased has decreased, and it seems that supply and demand have become tight.

Zoe Ward, CEO of Japan Property Central, which provides services for foreign customers, says that they are searching for properties with Singaporean customers who are rushing to acquire properties, and in response to Bloomberg's coverage, “What we are facing is that in addition to the fact that supply is really low, everyone is searching for similar hotels in major tourist spots, so competition is pretty tough.”

Right now, despite the fact that foreign tourists have just returned after the novel coronavirus disaster, the release of treated water from TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station has begun. The extent to which it will affect future hotel investment in Japan will be closely watched.