Cash buys dominate Tokyo and Osaka penthouses as luxury demand surges

Property

Trading properties among wealthy, including foreign buyers, pushes up prices

Emiko Shibamura, an owner of a health food retail company, bought this 200-square-meter unit on the top floor of a 48-story condominium in Osaka in cash about 10 years ago. (Photo by Yo Inoue)

RAMMARU WATANABE, YUKI KESHIBA and KENTO TANAKA

TOKYO — The majority of penthouse owners in about 300 high-rise residential buildings in central Tokyo and Osaka paid for their property in cash, Nikkei research showed.