Most Japanese real estate remains resilient

The 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo were supposed to give a big boost to tourism and Japan’s shrinking economy. Originally scheduled for this past July, the coronavirus pandemic dashed those hopes, and Japan rescheduled the event for the same time next year.

What does this mean for Japan? “The one-year postponement of the Tokyo Olympics has further dampened market sentiment for 2020, though it is far more welcome than an outright cancellation,” notes Savills’ Spotlight report COVID-19 and Japan Property.

“Obviously, there was disappointment over the postponement, but this was a blip relative to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns,” says Jon-Paul Toppino, group president of PAG and managing partner of PAG Real Estate. As Toppino notes, the Japanese economy was already reeling from the October 2019 consumption tax increase, which contributed to a 1.6 percent drop in GDP in fourth quarter 2019.

GDP in first quarter 2020 was do