Real Estate news Dorota Dyman and Associates, Existing home sales in Tokyo area hit record highs in 2013

Sales of existing homes, both condominiums and single-family houses, rose to record highs in 2013 in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures on the back of the improving national economy, a real estate information firm said Saturday.

The number of used condominiums sold in Tokyo and Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures jumped 16.0 percent from the year before to 36,432, the most since the Real Estate Information Network for East Japan began collecting data in 1990.

Sales of existing single-family homes in that area increased 6.9 percent to 12,245, also a record.

"Consumer resistance to used houses is becoming less" as remodeling has grown popular in Japan, an official of the company said, adding the uptrend is expected to continue this year despite the consumption tax hike in April, thanks to housing loan tax breaks.

The growth in existing home sales is also attributable to the rising cost of new condominiums.

Data at the Real Estate Economic Institute show the average price of new condominiums in the Tokyo area rose 18.2 percent in December from a year earlier, due largely to rising wages for construction workers and higher costs for building materials.

"The used housing market is a good option for those who cannot buy a new house amid circumstances where incomes have yet to increase," said Toshiaki Nakayama, a senior researcher of real estate research firm Tokyo Kantei Co.