Introduction to Japan Real Estate

June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Property prices in Japan may be near the bottom because transactions are picking up as loan default rates begin to decline, said Yuji Hashimoto, a director at Standard & Poor’s.

“We’ve started to see some property transactions taking place at about 20 to 40 percent discount,” said Hashimoto, director of the structured finance ratings division at S&P in an interview in Tokyo. “This tells us that the impact of loan default for the property prices is likely to be limited going forward and property prices may have bottomed.”

CLSA Capital Partners, a unit of Credit Agricole SA, aims to buy two to three properties in Tokyo this year through an $816 million real estate fund as it takes advantage of declining prices and a recovery in credit markets.

Uchiyama, who currently leads a team of seven in Tokyo, said he plans to hire several more people this year as the firm expands its investment in Japan.

“A rising number of real-estate funds being formed is evidence of how investors are starting to take a look at Japan’s property market once again after the crisis,” said Hideyuki Shinkai, a Tokyo-based fund manager for Norinchukin Trust & Banking Co. “We expect more property funds to be formed.”

Blackstone Group LP may buy Morgan Stanley Japan’s real estate portfolio, making its first property investment in the country, a person familiar with the deal said.

The world’s biggest private-equity firm expects to complete a deal for assets with a face value of 100 billion yen ($1.16 billion) next week, the person said, declining to be identified before an announcement. Blackstone may offer less than 50 percent of the face value of the portfolio, which consists of 11 non-recourse loans with about 30 office buildings mainly located in greater Tokyo, the person said.

Aug 11 (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co's (HPQ.N) Japanese unit was ordered to pay about 23 billion yen ($270 million) in additional tax after authorities ruled it underreported its taxable income, the Asahi daily reported on Wednesday.

Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average fell more than 2 percent on Wednesday, hurt by the yen's strength against the dollar after the Federal Reserve announced plans to boost a flagging U.S. economy by reinvesting money from maturing mortgage bonds in government debt.

Japan's population fell by a record amount last year as the number of deaths climbed to an all-time high in the quickly aging country.

Japan faces a looming demographic squeeze. Baby boomers are moving toward retirement, with fewer workers and taxpayers to replace them. The Japanese boast among the highest life expectancies in the world but have extremely low birth rates.

Japan logged 1.19 million deaths in 2010 — the biggest number since 1947 when the health ministry's annual records began. The number of births was nearly flat at 1.07 million.

As a result, Japan contracted by 123,000 people, which was the most ever and represents the fourth consecutive year of population decline. The top causes of death were cancer, heart disease and stroke, the ministry said.