TOKYO - While overall consumer spending remains weak in Japan, wealthy people have started splurging on art, jewelry and waterfront condos, among other baubles, as higher stock prices have them feeling flush.
Nationwide department store sales inched up 0.3 per cent on the year to 6.21 trillion yen (S$0.07 trillion) in 2014, the Japan Department Stores Association said Monday. Robust spending by foreign tourists and rebounding sales of art and jewelry were the main contributors to a third straight year of growth.
High-rise condos on the Tokyo waterfront are in high demand, although overall consumption is still sluggish.
Sales of art and jewelry climbed 6.5 per cent on the year in December, as demand from wealthy people recovered. Luxury coats and bags priced at more than 100,000 yen, as well as watches costing more than 1 million yen, had solid sales. "Consumption is coming back among owners of midtier businesses and others that have benefited from the stock price gains," said Yoichiro Ide, executive director of the association.
"Showroom tours have been booked solid for weekends," said a sales representative for Global Front Tower, a high-rise condominium that developer Mitsui Fudosan is building at a seafront location in Tokyo. The typical unit in the building goes for 70 million yen to 80 million yen, but already 80 per cent of its 883 units are spoken for.
Read the full article here