The condominium supply in Tokyo and surrounding areas may rise for the first time in five years in 2009 after dropping to a 16-year low in 2008, the Real Estate Economic Research Institute said Thursday.
The number of units on the market may increase by 11.6 percent to 47,000 from an estimated 42,102 units in 2008, the institute said in a report released through the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry.
This year's condo supply is forecast to fall to its lowest level since 1992, when the annual supply totaled 26,248 units. Supply peaked in 2000 at 95,635 units.
Total supply is estimated to have dropped 31 percent in 2008, the biggest decline since the asset-price bubble burst in 1991, when supply fell 34 percent, the institute said.
The number of unsold condominiums in Tokyo has been higher than 10,000 for a record 12 months as the prospect of the first recession since 2001 undermined demand for homes. The real estate slump has forced 24 publicly listed developers and construction companies to file for bankruptcy.
Apartment builders may focus on lowering prices to cut inventories next year, the institute said.