DPL Yokohama Totsuka was completed in 2022 and is fully occupied (Image: GIC)
Singapore’s GIC has reprised one of its favourite investment themes of 2023, with the sovereign fund picking up a Yokohama warehouse built by Daiwa House Industry after buying nine assets developed by the Japanese giant last year.
Regarded as Daiwa House’s flagship logistics facility, DPL Yokohama Totsuka was completed in 2022 and is fully occupied, GIC said in a release. The four-storey facility spans more than 126,000 square metres (1.4 million square feet), making it one of the Osaka-based builder’s largest assets to date, the fund said.
No details about the deal value or the seller were disclosed. The transaction follows GIC’s 2023 acquisitions of several Daiwa House-built warehouses, including a six-shed portfolio purchased from Blackstone for more than $800 million and three single assets in Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka bought directly from Daiwa House.
“GIC remains strongly committed to Japan’s real estate sector,” the fund said. “Specifically for logistics, GIC expects demand for modern logistics spaces to continue to grow, driven by e-commerce and supply chain optimisation trends.”
Near Highway Project
Situated just west of the Kashio River in Yokohama’s southwest corner, DPL Yokohama Totsuka is 1.2 kilometres (0.7 miles) from an under-construction section of the Ken-O Expressway due to open in 2025.
GIC chief executive Lim Chow Kiat
The property features seismic-base isolation for earthquake resistance and amenities including an open deck space, a convenience store and a cafe, which are open to workers based at the facility and to nearby residents, GIC said.
The $770 billion sovereign fund’s previous additions to the Japan shed portfolio were a newly built logistics facility in Greater Osaka and a two-year-old facility in Greater Fukuoka, with those acquisitions announced last December.
GIC tied the buys to the growth of online shopping and the ongoing modernisation of Japanese distribution.
Greater Tokyo Vacancy Up
The vacancy rate for large multi-tenant logistics facilities in Greater Tokyo, including Yokohama, ticked up 0.4 points to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2024, according to CBRE.
New supply consisted of 628,099 square metres across 10 buildings, which achieved a total occupancy rate of over 50 percent upon completion, the consultancy said in its Logistics MarketView report. Net absorption fell below the 2023 quarterly average, registering 489,256 square metres.
The vacancy rate for existing facilities surged from 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 to reach 4.4 percent — the highest level seen since the first quarter of 2012 — due to vacancies in fringe areas taking time to fill, the report said. Effective rents in Greater Tokyo fell by 0.4 points to JPY 14,876 per square metre.
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