As of January, the price of commercial land nationwide increased by 1.8%, the second consecutive year of increase. Some wards of Tokyo, which had fallen last year, have also started to rise. While the supply of large-scale offices is increasing, experts believe that competition between office buildings will intensify in central Tokyo and other areas in the future.

Central Tokyo, Minato-ku, etc. start to rise

In the commercial areas of Chiyoda, Chuo, and Minato Wards in central Tokyo, land prices all fell in last year's land price announcement due to the view that office demand will decrease due to the spread of the new corona infection.

However, Minato Ward and Chiyoda Ward and Chuo Ward both started to increase, up 2.8% and 2.1% this year.

Supply of large offices significantly ↑

Yaesu, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Photo taken on March 3

Behind this is large-scale redevelopment.

A large-scale redevelopment building containing offices and commercial facilities in front of Tokyo Station in Yaesu, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, opened this month, and large-scale office supply is planned for Minato Ward, Shibuya Ward, etc. in the city center in the future.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate research and consulting firm, the supply area of large-scale offices in the five central Tokyo wards, including Chiyoda and Minato, is estimated to reach more than 5,61 square meters, far exceeding the average supply of more than 20,34 square meters over the past <> years.

Furthermore, according to a summary by Miki Shoji, a major office brokerage company, the vacancy rate of about 5,2600 buildings in the five wards of central Tokyo, including Chiyoda and Minato, averaged 6.15% last month.

Experts and industry alikes a 5% vacancy rate is generally considered a guideline for determining office demand.

Experts have pointed out that vacancies are not available in some buildings, and that the difference between the offices chosen and those that are not is starting to emerge.

High occupancy rate through unique initiatives

Under these circumstances, some older buildings maintain a high occupancy rate by continuously understanding the needs of tenants.

The more than 90-year-old building in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, is still vacant and the office is operating smoothly.

One of the reasons for this is environmentally friendly initiatives.

Companies that own and operate buildings have been strengthening their efforts for about 15 years, referring to overseas examples, in anticipation of a growing tendency to demand high energy-saving performance for office buildings amid growing corporate environmental awareness.

For example
, we have been promoting energy-saving measures such as applying heat-shielding paint on the roof to reduce the temperature rise inside the building in summer, and
▽introducing air conditioning that can control the temperature for each area of the building.

In addition
, we continued to work on the environmental awareness of residents, such as displaying electricity usage and carbon dioxide emissions in the lobby to make it "visible" at all times, and ▽ separating garbage into 13 types of garbage so that it is easy to recycle, and in 2018,
we also obtained global environmental certification for real estate.

Through these efforts, the amount of electricity used in fiscal 2021 was reduced by nearly 2010% compared to fiscal 40, and it is said that the fundamental reduction in electricity consumption while electricity bills continue to rise has also led to cost reductions.

Takashi Mori, president of Kinsan Shoji, a company that owns and operates buildings, said, "Competition with new buildings is still difficult for older buildings, but there are various needs in offices, so it is important to make good use of the concept of the building.