Key Takeaways Reliance on low interest rates, strong occupancy, and premium rents faces risk from demographic decline, office oversupply, and potential rate normalization in Japan. Growth expectations hinge on sustained tourism, business demand, and successful asset upgrades, but aging assets and volatile conditions threaten future earnings and margins.
Japan Real Estate Investment Corporation (the “Company”) was established on May 11, 2001 pursuant to Japan’s Act on Investment Trusts and Investment Corporations (“ITA”). The Company was listed on the real estate investment trust market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (“TSE”) on September 10, 2001 (Securities Code: 8952). Since its IPO, the size of the Company’s assets (total acquisition price) has grown steadily, expanding from 92.8 billion yen to 1,167.7 billion yen as of March 31, 2025. Over the same period, the Company’s portfolio has also increased from 20 properties to 77 properties. During the March 2025 period (October 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025), the Japanese economy continued to demonstrate a gradual recovery, despite some lingering stagnation in capital investment and personal consumption due to inflation and other factors. On the other hand, given the policy rate hikes by the Bank of Japan, the shift in global interest rates to a lowering phase, the impact of U.S. policy trends, such as trade policy and other factors, interest rate trends, overseas political and economic developments, and price trends, including resource prices, will continue to bear watching. In the office leasing market, demand continues to grow for leases driven by business expansion and relocations aimed at improving location. As a result, the vacancy rate in central Tokyo continues to decline gradually. In addition, rent levels are rising at an accelerating rate. In light of the prevailing conditions in the leasing market, the Company is striving to attract new tenants through strategic leasing activities and to further enhance the satisfaction level of existing tenants by adding value to its portfolio properties with the aim of maintaining and improving the occupancy rate and realizing sustainable income growth across the entire portfolio. In the real estate trading market, despite the Bank of Japan normalizing its monetary policy, the appetite for property acquisition among both domestic and foreign investors remains firm, backed mainly by the interest rate differential with overseas markets. There is still fierce competition, particularly for high-quality office buildings, and as a result, conditions for acquiring properties remain tough because expected yields are also low. In this market environment, the Company made sound investments based on its investment policy of aiming for sustainable growth in dividends to unitholders, which has remained unchanged since its listing on the TSE. Dividend per unit for the March 2025 period was 2,487 yen, up 18 yen from the September 2024 period.