Will Japan’s tourist visa fees, interest rate policy impact its booming property market?

With Japan imposing higher visa fees for tourists from July while moving away from an ultra-loose monetary policy, foreign investors must prepare themselves for both direct and indirect impacts on their real estate assets, according to agents and analysts.There is a dearth of data on the total number of homes bought by non-residents in Japan, but agents said the two main reasons for purchasing were to either use them as a primary base while they explored the country’s tourist destinations, or as an investment to be rented out on short- and long-term leases.For now, rising interest rates in Japan could have a bigger impact on investors, as it applies to individuals in the residential property sector as well as institutional investors in commercial real estate.