TOKYO - A central Tokyo ward on Tuesday urged condominium developers to ban buyers from reselling their units for five years after purchase in an effort to curb surging property prices.
Chiyoda Ward made the request to developers carrying out projects in the ward under a scheme that grants incentives such as relaxed floor-area ratio limits.
It also urged developers to prohibit buyers from purchasing multiple units in the same building under the same name.
According to the ward, scalping has driven up the prices of new condominiums, which in turn has pushed up prices in the used home market and apartment rents.
The ward also said that scalping could increase the number of unoccupied units, potentially causing problems for the residential environment and the operation of condominium management associations.
The ward made a similar request to the real estate industry in July last year.
