Build First, Sell Slowly: Sumitomo Realty's No-Discount Strategy at Senju-Ohashi
- City Tower Senju-Ohashi, completed in 2025, is sold gradually after completion
- Sumitomo Realty is known for refusing discounts and treating finished units as assets
- The approach contrasts with the industry norm of selling out before completion
- The model bets on continued price appreciation to maximize per-unit profit
Japan's condo developers typically sell out before completion to recycle capital fast. Toyo Keizai examines the opposite playbook through Sumitomo Realty's City Tower Senju-Ohashi, completed in 2025: no discounts, no rush—finished units are treated as appreciating assets, not inventory.
The strategy works while central-Tokyo supply stays scarce and prices keep climbing: unsold units simply sell higher next year. The cost is slow capital turnover and interest expense, and the model turns painful if the market reverses—only developers with deep balance sheets can play it.
For buyers, two takeaways: expect little room to negotiate with Sumitomo, and treat the pace at which major developers digest completed inventory as a live thermometer of the Tokyo market. The day Sumitomo starts discounting will say more than any research report.