Roppongi / Azabu

Roppongi and Azabu sit inside Minato-ku but they are not interchangeable with the rest of the ward. The streets around Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Midtown, and the embassy cluster in Motoazabu / Nishiazabu pull a tenant mix that is unusually international: diplomats, finance expats, and long-stay executives who will pay for English-speaking management and a walk to an international school. That is why sold prices here print higher than Shiba or Hamamatsucho even when the building age is similar.

Demand is sticky, not explosive. New luxury towers reset the asking ceiling, but MLIT records show that older RC stock a few blocks off Gaien-Higashi-dori still trades — often at a discount that listing sites do not advertise. Gross yields for a typical 1LDK are usually in the 2–3% band; this is a capital-preservation and liquidity market, not a cash-flow market. Exit is easier than in most of Tokyo because the buyer pool includes both domestic HNWI and inbound private-banking clients.

The operational catch is minpaku. Minato-ku applies the Hotel Business Act / Private Lodging Business Act strictly in residential zones, and many mansions have bylaws that ban short-term stays outright. Underwrite as a 12-month residential lease to an expat household, not as an Airbnb. Also budget for higher kanri-hi and repair-fund contributions in the 2000s towers — the amenity stack (concierge, gym, bilingual front desk) is part of why rents hold.

Use the transaction table below as a district filter, not a ward average. Shirokane and Kaigan are in the same municipality file but they are a different product. If a listing is priced off a “Minato-ku median,” ask which chome actually sold.