Weave Living Acquires 108 Tokyo Apartments With Japanese Investor Consortium
Hong Kong-based Weave Living has purchased three Tokyo apartment properties totalling 108 units through an off-market deal backed by a consortium of Japanese investors. The acquisition brings the firm's Japan assets under management to JPY 120 billion across nearly 50 properties.
Weave Living has acquired three Tokyo apartment properties comprising 108 units with backing from a consortium of Japanese investors, expanding its domestic capital relationships as the rental housing specialist builds its institutional fund management business.
The off-market purchase, announced Wednesday, brings the Hong Kong-based firm's Japan assets under management to JPY 120 billion (S$764 million) across nearly 50 properties. Weave said the consortium includes one of the world's largest financial services firms but did not disclose the investors' names, the vendor's identity or the purchase price.
The transaction marks Weave's second domestic partnership in Japan, following a MUFG-anchored fund closed last year, and comes less than a month after the company and KKR fully exited their equity investment in a Japanese rental venture through a JPY 55 billion recapitalisation.
Two of the new assets, Ginza Hatchobori and Yoyogi Uehara, are in Chuo and Shibuya wards, respectively, placing them in the capital's central five wards. The third property is in the Asakusabashi area. Weave plans to reposition the portfolio under its Weave Place long-stay furnished accommodation brand, with staged common-area upgrades and full apartment renovations, and will introduce digital leasing and integrate its Weave App into the properties.
Weave Place offers furnished homes with flexible leases and monthly rates that include utilities and Wi-Fi. The furnished-rental model also featured in Weave's August acquisition of six Tokyo buildings with Aberdeen Investments. Tokyo's rental market continued to grow in the second quarter, with average rents across the 23 wards rising 2.8 per cent from the previous three months and 5.3 per cent year-on-year to JPY 4,829 per square metre per month, according to Savills. Rents in the central five wards increased 5.2 per cent from a year earlier. Occupancy softened over the same period, with Savills tracking a decline of 0.6 percentage points to 96.2 per cent across the 23 wards and a fall of 0.8 points to 95.6 per cent in the central five.
Weave and KKR completed the recapitalisation of their first Japan residential venture on 7 September at a gross realisation value of JPY 55 billion. The buyer of the 14-property Tokyo portfolio was identified by Weave only as a prominent Southeast Asian investor. Weave retained long-term investment management, asset management and operating responsibilities for the portfolio, with further acquisitions planned under the recapitalised venture.
