Recent press covering the “Pearl of the Andaman” has not been positive. However, there are persuasive reasons why this negativity will be short-lived. With significant tailwinds driving the island’s visitor numbers, the underlying market fundamentals suggest that Phuket will weather the storm and continue its maturation as one of the world’s premier tourist destinations.

Thanks to our exclusive Hirafu Listings Database, detailing the real estate market fundamentals of the area, we are able to assess the characteristics of this promising market. In this edition, we aim to analyze the types of property on the market in Niseko, their relative prices and the general real estate trends in Hirafu.

With Niseko now boasting a robust summer tourist scene in addition to its main winter season, luxury developers are increasingly interested in becoming a part of the town’s future.

Colloquially known as the “Aspen of Asia”, Niseko’s dynamic local economy has worked hard to diversify its tourist industry beyond just snow sports. Given the roaring construction projects in and around the notorious Hokkaido resort, this year-round tourist boom is welcomed by developers new and old alike. 

A critical aspect of investing in emerging markets is the need to discriminate between short-term growth fads and sustainable development. As Paul Krugman famously discusses in his article, “The Myth of Asia’s Miracle,” it is often very easy to get caught up in aggregate GDP growth statistics without looking deeper into what is driving those statistics. This can lead to an investing-with-the-herd mentality and the systematic under-appreciation of some of the most interesting and lucrative opportunities across emerging markets.