Tokyo is preparing to host the 2020 Summer Olympics and become the focus of global attention as the world’s best athletes perform. But how will Tokyo’s property markets perform in the lead-up to the Olympics and after the teams have gone home? What are the city’s strengths and weaknesses amid record-high bank lending in Japan’s real estate sector? What opportunities does Tokyo real estate hold, both for investors interested in short-term sprints into and out of the market and marathon investors in it for the long run?

Is residential hitting a performance wall?

In the years following the 2013 announcement Tokyo would host the 2020 Olympics, prices in the city’s residential market surged. Now that surge has hit a wall, and the boom may be ending, as the number of unsold apartments reached its highest level in seven years. Chinese investor interest, which has been a major part of the boom, has cooled significantly because of China’s slowing ec