Funds eye property in Tokyo

Global wealth funds are moving to buy more Tokyo properties to take advantage of rising prices in the Japanese capital, one of the highest-ranking officials at the land ministry said.

"Long-term pension funds in the US and Europe, particularly in Scandinavia, are looking to lift their positions" in Japanese real estate, Kisaburo Ishii, a deputy minister at the ministry, said on Monday.

Norway's $870 billion wealth fund is preparing to purchase properties in Tokyo after scouring Asia for investment opportunities, Karsten Kallevig, head of real estate investments at the Oslo-based fund, said on March 20. Commercial property prices in Tokyo rose 2.9 percent last year, after a 2.3 percent gain in 2013, as foreign investors, including Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC Pte, snapped up assets.