Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism established a guideline for Real Estate Investment Funds (REITs) to own health care facilities such as homes for the elderly. The guideline includes points that the REITs should pay attention when they acquire properties and it also recommends to ask outside professionals for advises on investment decisions. The ministry plans to introduce the guideline in July.
The number of the senior in Japan is predicted to increase by 7 million in a decade until 2020. As a rate of available senior houses to the elderly population remained as low as 0.9% in 2005, the government aims to raise the percentage to 3-5% in 20 years. (2014/04/28)