Dash Living Grows Japan Portfolio to 19 Locations With BlackRock, Greystar Deals

Rental apartment specialist Dash Living has expanded its Japan portfolio to 19 locations under new agreements signed with capital partners BlackRock and Greystar.

In its first tie-up with US multi-family giant Greystar, Dash has launched its largest property in Japan to date with a 77-unit location in the Tsukiji neighbourhood of Tokyo’s Chuo ward, according to a Tuesday LinkedIn post. Dash Living Tsukiji East sits four minutes by foot from Tsukiji station of the Tokyo metro and eight minutes from Shintomicho railway station, with the accommodation targeting foreign expats and relocating locals.

“With demand for flexible living solutions in Tokyo on the rise, pre-leasing is now open, and interest is already strong,” said Dash Living founder and CEO Aaron Lee.

The announcement comes one week after the company revealed its second Japan joint venture with asset management titan BlackRock, Dash Living Nihonbashi East, in the neighbourhood known as Bakurocho. The asset is exclusively for long stays and offers access to key hubs like Marunouchi, Otemachi, Shinjuku and Nihonbashi within 20 minutes by train, Dash said.

Bigger Tokyo Footprint

Hong Kong-based Dash’s latest milestones follow the company’s second joint venture with UK fund manager Schroders announced in December, under which the partners acquired Dash Living Osaki in Tokyo’s Shinagawa ward. A year earlier the pair had purchased the 49-key Palms Ryogoku in Sumida ward.

Dash previously teamed up with BlackRock last July to acquire an upscale 29-unit multi-family property in Tokyo’s Higashi Komagata area, within a five-minute walk of the Ginza and Asakusa subway lines.

The building has a gross floor area of over 12,000 square feet (1,115 square metres) and comprises studios and one- and two-bedroom units. The partners said they aimed to achieve rental uplifts through upgrades to the property, including furniture, fixtures and equipment, as well as branding for the rooms and public areas.

“Japan’s real estate market for multi-family assets is highly attractive and offers substantial opportunities given the surge in business travel and tourism,” Daigo Hirai, managing director and head of Japan real estate for BlackRock, said in July. “We are excited to be collaborating with Dash Living to capitalise on this burgeoning demand by repositioning multi-family assets to generate value-add returns for our investors.”

Regional Rollout

Dash Living’s portfolio totals over 2,000 rooms with properties located across Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Sydney. The company counts MindWorks, Grosvenor, Taronga Ventures and Chinachem among its backers.

Dash and BlackRock have also been expanding their respective residential portfolios elsewhere in the region. In January of last year, Dash joined forces with US-based PGIM Real Estate to acquire The Sheung Wan hotel in Hong Kong as their second residential project in the city, with Dash also managing PGIM’s Dash Living on Hollywood project.

A month later, a joint venture between a BlackRock-managed fund and Hong Kong-based rental residential provider Weave Living purchased the 154-unit Citadines Mount Sophia serviced apartment block near Singapore’s Bugis area from CapitaLand Ascott Trust. The world’s largest asset manager had also in late 2023 acquired Blackstone’s economic interest in a City Developments Ltd residential project on Singapore’s Sentosa island.