Chinese Interest In Japanese Real Estate

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: As Japanese property prices fall, interest rises among Chinese investors
Japan's real estate market may be in a slump, but that's not deterring Chinese from scooping up properties. Chinese money -- that is from Chinese living in Japan -- is making its presence felt in a big way... At a seminar on real estate held in Yokohama's Chinatown for Chinese investors in mid-October, all the 40 seats were taken. Masao Kaneko, a senior official of Mitsui Real Estate Sales Co., explained to the audience, "Now is the chance to look for good real estate deals"...The seminar was organized by the London-based HSBC Group... However, Japanese financial institutions have been cautious about extending loans to Chinese investors. For example, the city of Kawaguchi in Saitama Prefecture has many Chinese residents who work in companies and universities in the Tokyo metropolitan area. But a sales promotion staff member of a major Japanese real estate brokerage said: "About 70 percent of clients are Chinese. Even so, we have to tear up half the applications because they can't get a loan"...The problem is that "banks do not extend loans to them if they do not have permanent residency status," the man said. Japan's three megabanks all say that permanent residency status is not an absolute requirement for them to extend loans. That may be so, but as an employee of one of the banks explained: "(If they don't have permanent residency status) we don't know whether they will continue to live in Japan. When we screen them, we cannot help but be cautious." In 2009, HSBC began to provide loans to foreign nationals without permanent residency status if they had financial assets of 10 million yen or more. "We can chase them to the end of the world with a single telephone call," said Koichi Hori, senior vice president in charge of mortgage products and personal financial services at HSBC Premier...According to Minoru Hayashi, president of [a] real estate company, "We need investors who have no trouble getting loans from banks. If we avoid them on the ground that they are foreigners, we will not be able to survive"...more...

[Mulboyne]

[Russell]

[SIZE="4"]Bill eyed to block foreign control of water sources[/SIZE]

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the main opposition force, the Liberal Democratic Party, began making adjustments Friday prior to the submission to the current Diet session of legislation aimed at preventing foreign ownership of the nation's water resources, parliamentary sources said Friday.

The legislation to be sponsored by lawmakers of both parties aims to prevent the purchase and uncontrolled development of reservoir areas by foreign capital.

The move comes amid increased purchases by foreign funds of forest areas that serve as sources of fresh water.

[...]

The bill would stipulate that water is a precious, shared national resource, and the central and local governments have a responsibility to devise and implement water-related policies.

The fundamental law concerning the water cycle will call for proper regulation on the use of water resources, while stressing the need to maintain forests, rivers and farmland that serve as water sources.

Under the legislation, the government would be required to set a basic plan every five years to cover comprehensive water-related policies and give the Diet a progress report yearly.

The legislation does not directly refer to foreign capital, but one of the sources said, "It is clear that the bill has foreign capital in mind."