Japan’s Real Estate Finance Research Laboratory just released its latest batch of figures for condo starts in Japan. As of the end of March, 463 high-rise condominium buildings are under construction throughout the country. That means buildings of at least 20 stories. These buildings comprise 143,826 units. Of these, 153 will be completed before the end of 2009.The laboratory projects that 2009 will be the peak year; that from now one fewer and fewer condos will be built as the population shrinks and vacant units remain unsold and/or vacant. In addition, the laboratory found that the average condo in the Tokyo Metropolitan area costs 7.7 times the average yearly salary of the area’s average resident.