Taipei, Jan. 17 (CNA) Taiwanese buyers are becoming more interested in Japan's property market as the Japanese yen has declined by nearly 10 percent over the past two months, a real estate agent said Thursday.

The Japan office of Sinyi Realty, one of Taiwan's major real estate agencies, has received more than 200 calls in the past two weeks from Taiwan asking about properties for sale in Japan, said Lin Yan-hong, head of the branch.

The agency said it has shown Japanese properties to about 70 potential Taiwanese buyers in recent weeks.

Usually, the branch in Japan receives about 15 calls per fortnight from Taiwan about Japanese real estate and it shows about 50 properties per month on average to Taiwanese, according to Lin.

He said the weakening of the Japanese currency over the past two months has resulted in lower property prices for overseas buyers, including Taiwanese.

For example, a property that cost US$638,050 (50 million yen) two months ago would now cost around US$569,430 as the yen dropped to 89.67 against the U.S. dollar on Jan. 14, the lowest level since June 2010, Lin said.

(By Wei Shu and Kendra Lin)
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