Historic Homes in Tokyo Attract More ... - Real Estate Japan

Tokyo architect Toshiko Kinoshita was forced to buy a classic postwar Japanese home in her neighborhood that was bought by a developer and was facing a demolition. In order to save it, she bought it herself. Since the property was too big for her to live in, she decided to sell it to an international buyer.

Today, Japanese buyers tend to choose modern homes, making the market for traditional houses to move slow. Historic homes in Japan that is anything more than 40 years old can be found in central Tokyo. When it comes to pricing, the value of any property in Tokyo is based largely on how much the land is worth while the value of a house that sits on any property depreciates as soon as someone inhabits it.

Kinoshita?s decision to preserve the architectural and historical value of the property she bought is still seen by many as a rare one. According to Ken Arbour, president of Century 21 SKY Realty, anyone in Japan that is planning to buy a house that is as old as 30 years is most likely to take it apart and start building a new one.

Kinoshita, with her husband and fellow architect, Juan Ordonez, decided to come up with an unusual preservation tactic. Together, they organized a temporary exhibition gallery in Denenchofu, in southwest Tokyo. They aim to feature three properties and match them with buyers who are like them, who appreciate history, culture and architecture.

The said houses included in the exhibition were designed by architects Isoya Yosihda, Junzo Yoshimura and Kunio Maekawa. The first house which is also the smallest, measures 2,142 square feet. It was built in 1955 by Yoshida, who was also the architect of the Kabukiza theater in Ginza. There is no list price for the house, but the market value of the land is estimated at 300-350 million yen.

The second house was also built in 1955 for concert pianist, Takahiro Sonoda by Junzo Yoshimura and is 3,295 square feet in size. The third property called the Maekawa house, is the one currently owned by architect Kinoshita. It was built in 1974 by Kunio Maekawa, who was also the designer of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. The house measures 4,908 square feet, with a guide price of about $6.3 million. Unfortunately, the exhibition ended without a sale. But the owners said that it could still raise awareness of the difficulty of preserving important Japanese architecture.

Meanwhile outside of Tokyo, there are reports of a larger inventory of traditional homes particularly in Kyoto and Kamakura. In fact, Sotheby?s International realty is offering to sell two traditional houses in Kyoto, which is more than 50 years old and in Kamakura, which was built in 1972. Foreigners tend to have greater appreciation of old and traditional Japanese properties and are, most of the time, more educated about Japanese architecture and landscape design than the Japanese, which could be one of the reasons why there are more foreign buyers coming in for these properties, according to Yukiko Takano of Sotheby?s Tokyo office.

Jacob Reiner, an American developer and founder and chief architect of Eden Homes buys and repairs neglected houses for international buyers. He refurbishes tradition houses in Shojiko, and the lakeside village, one of the few remaining undeveloped areas near Mount Fuji.

According to him, by working with buyers to revamp these old houses according to their budget and taste, is one of the ways to encourage them to recreate a culture of reform in Japan and change the general notion that ?old is no good.?

Original article: Wall Street JournalPhoto credits: epigene and ?Emile Bremmer via Flickr Creative Commons?

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Source: http://www.realestate.co.jp/2012/10/30/historic-homes-in-tokyo-attract-more-international-buyers/

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