Real estate firm Azel Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection Monday with the Tokyo District Court after accumulating ¥44.2 billion in liabilities.
The Tokyo-based company said it decided to seek protection after failing to collect proceeds from the sale of two properties. Trading in Azel shares was suspended Monday and the stock will be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange on April 14.
Azel is the eighth publicly traded real estate company to seek protection from creditors this year as the recession drives down land values and tighter credit markets choke off funding for property developers.
Residential land prices fell 3.2 percent in 2008 to their lowest level since 1984 and average commercial land prices dropped 4.7 percent to a three-year low, according to a government report released last week.
Azel also cited a slump in condominium sales, difficulty in getting loans and failures among construction companies for its collapse.