Newsletter
November 2005
Property in Kobe, Japan
Welcome to the ffeilden newsletter, a newsletter for English speaking individuals or businesses looking to buy or rent property in Kobe, Ashiya and Nishinomiya in Japan. Please take a look at our website: www.ffeilden.com
In recent newsletters we seem to have been writing a lot about Kobe property values, investment property, and whether the market is bottoming out or not. So for a change letfs write about something different: views and balconies.
A Room with a View
If there is one nice thing about Kobe that makes it distinctive, it is that it is built on a narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea. This means a lot of houses are built on the hillside and have views over the sea. The properties higher up back onto the mountainside with hiking trails nearby, and the hillside is south facing, so apartments are sunny.
We have added some properties on the market with good views to our website.
Take a look at some of these views and balconies.
For Rent: http://www.ffeilden.com/listing_rental/
For Sale: http://www.ffeilden.com/listing/
The hillside tends to be steeper on the north side of the Hankyu line, and so are the best views, and the nicest residential areas, like Mikage & Shinoharakitamachi. Many customers mistakenly believe that property prices increase as you go higher up the hillside. While it is true that property tends to be more valuable just on the north side of the Hankyu Line, this only holds true for locations within a few minutes walk of the stations. Once you get higher up the hill, there is the inconvenience factor which dampens demand. In fact there are very good deals to be had if you are willing to go higher up, for example, around Kobe University or Sumiyoshigawa.
South facing balconies are pretty standard, but from time to time we come across enormous roof balconies. One of the listed properties for sale has a roof balcony of 120 sqm.
In our experience, Japanese customers tend to value convenience more than views. If are the opposite and care about the views, and are willing take a bus, bicycle or scooter to the station, there are good locations up on the hillside waiting to be had.
All the listings
Remember, we have access to all the properties registered for sale and rent on the real estate agents network. And as always, you can request a search via our online application form