AS JAPANESE property prices edge up, CapitaLand may start developing real estate in the country.
Disclosing this yesterday, Mr Tan Lai Seng, director of CapitaLand Japan, pointed out: “The property market now is positive since the last 15 years of decline.”
“This year, it has increased substantially and the trend will improve for the subsequent year.
“We would like to move into development and hold some assets, because we think that in the long term, asset values in Japan would increase,” added Mr Tan,who is based in Japan.
He was in Singapore to speak at a seminar for investors organised by IE Singapore and the Japan External Trade Organisation.
CapitaLand, he said, is working with local partners to realise this vision. “We will probably target major cities for development like Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, first.”
“In these major cities, land is difficult to secure and very competitive, so we are working with good partners to try and start these developments,” he explained. “Real estate is a long-term business and we are very bullish about Japan.”
So far, the tie-ups include Samty, an Osaka-based residential developer that develops properties with CapitaLand’s fund. CapitaLand also has a 5-per-cent stake in Samty valued at $21 million.
South-east Asia’s biggest developer by assets set up an office in Japan seven years ago. Since then, it has launched two private equity funds in 2005 worth $2.5 billion to invest in rental and retail property in Japan.
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