Candy & Candy is revered as one of world's leading interior design houses. Their Candy GPS Report is often seen as a benchmark for where the rich and famous are putting there money. The most recent publication highlights Niseko in the Top 5 Leisure Enclaves in Asia.
They note:
The town of Niseko on the northern island of Hokkaido is one of the most popular luxury resort destinations in Japan. Famous for its plentiful powder snow and the iconic Mount Yōtei, this vibrant valley resort is internationally recognised as a world-class ski destination, and as such draws visitors from across Asia Pacific and beyond.
It is proof that new types of resort and new luxury residential destinations can be created in Asia where none existed before. Although distinctly Japanese in style, the resort is modelled on European and North American resorts. It illustrates how, when it comes to catering for global UHNWIs, new resorts and destinations of all types are likely to be an international product with some local flavour.
After the launch of direct flights between Hokkaido and Cairns in 2005, there was increased Australian demand for holiday properties and development sites. This provided a significant boost to residential prices in the area. Since then, the market has attracted capital from countries such as Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Korea and Malaysia, so demand for luxury residential property has remained robust. Given the town’s high price point and relative distance from Japan’s main island of Honshu, the Niseko luxury residential market is as much focused on international demand as it is on Japanese demand.
With some large landmark developments being pushed back or halted as a result of the financial crisis, much of the current residential stock in Niseko consists of assets between five and 10 years old. Prices for luxury residential properties in the area range from JPY800,000psm ($750psf) to JPY1.3 million psm ($1,200psf). In common with the rest of Japan, prices have seen a steady, albeit modest, decline in the last decade, which even the resort’s foreign buyers have been unable to stem.
Read the full report here
Posted on 11 February, 2014 by Chris Pickering in Niseko Central News.
