TODAY’S ASPECT REGARDING THE MARKET IN CHINA & JAPAN BY SHREE MCX.COM

Japan’s home-sharing listings grow ten-fold on month to 1,000 ahead of new law

Japan’s home-sharing listings have crossed the 1,000-mark, the nation’s tourist agency said on Wednesday, ahead of a new law regulating the practice comes into effect on Friday.

The count is 10 times higher from a month ago, but still lags 62,000 listings the market leader Airbnb Inc had by earlier this year.

Japan will enact the private temporary lodging, or “minpaku,” law, on June 15. The law requires hosts to register with the government apart from imposing other rules and restrictions.

Japan has received 2,707 applications nationwide as of June 8, of which 1,134 were approved, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. As of May 11, the government had approved 152 of 724 applications.

The new law limits home-sharing to 180 days a year, a cap hosts say makes it difficult to turn a profit and leaves final decision-making to local governments, some of which have imposed even stricter rules to protect security.

Property agents abandon China’s resort island as sales plunge on cooling measures

Tough measures to cool the property market in China’s resort island of Hainan have put the brakes on a real estate boom and underscore the policy risks developers and investors face as the government tries to rein in prices.

Home prices in Hainan, known for its resort-lined beaches, recorded China’s second-fastest monthly price increase in April, spurred by Beijing’s commitment to promote the island province as a tourism hub and free trade zone.

But new measures in April restricting non-residents from buying homes on the island, where non-locals normally comprise about 80 percent of purchases, have caused sales to plunge.

Home transactions in Hainan in terms of area fell 14 percent in May compared with April, and were down 41 percent from a year ago, according to the real estate research firm CRIC. Official home price data for May is due to be released on Friday.

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