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Impact of LargeｰScale Disasters on the Real Estate Market

Abstract

What impact did the Great East Japan Earthquake have on the real estate market ？ It is possible that the earthquake could be said to have largely caused two shocks to the real estate market. One was a shock to the domestic market. Specifically, it can be assumed that investment favoring coastal areas has slowed down due to the extensive “tsunami” damage. This is also evident in the decrease in population in such areas. “Tsunami” damage is a geographical issue, but it is also possible to think that foreign capital fled from the entire Japanese market in the wake of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. The second was a shock to the overseas real estate market. If the capital invested in Japan has been withdrawn, the capital is likely to head for real estate markets in other countries. Furthermore, if there has been an outflow of population from Japan, such demand pressure could cause a shock to the overseas real estate market. This paper aims to organize the possibility of these two routes of shocks brought on by the Great East Japan Earthquake by surveying other prior research that dealt with similar events.