The price of new apartments in Tokyo toppled a 30-year-old record in 2021 as rising demand from dual-income households and increasing construction costs boosted the Japanese capital’s once-moribund housing market.

According to figures released Tuesday by the Real Estate Economic Institute, the mean price of new condos in the Japanese capital and surrounding areas hit 62.6 million yen last year, topping the 61.2 million yen high set in 1990 at the peak of the economic bubble. Some market watchers expect the surge to continue this year.

The recent increase has also been fueled by pre-pandemic demand from overseas buyers, particularly from China, as well as greater interest in better living quarters as professionals spend more time at home due to Covid and a recent dearth of supply.

Real estate is running hotter than other assets in Japan. The nation’s stock market has yet to reclaim its bubble-era highs, though benchmarks did touch 30-year records last year. More than 600 apartments at Harumi Flag, a real estate development that housed athletes and delegations during the Tokyo Olympic Games last year, sold out the day they went on sale. Responding to the demand, the government plans to trim tax breaks for homeowners from next year.

Source from Bloomberg