JAPAN

Slowdown Not Seen as Threat to Big Developments: Tokyo’s sluggish commercial property market has hit Japan’s major real estate firms hard but will not stop them from going ahead with major development projects, company executives say. While demand has slipped with the economic slowdown, they see it remaining strong over the mid- and long-term, ensuring high occupancy and rising rents. “Compared with other major cities, there is a chronic shortage of (large) office buildings in Tokyo. Demand will be tight and supply short in mid- to long-term,” said an official at Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., one of Japan’s biggest property developers.