GOYOH's social impact evaluation scheme selected as a model by Japan's MLIT
Toward better daily lives, more active communities and places worth living in. Identifying the social impact that real estate investment creates, and connecting it to investment decisions and economic value.
GOYOH Inc. (head office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Yukihiko Ito), which provides the social impact real estate platform REAL IMPACTs, has had its evaluation scheme selected as a model under the Model Programme for Promoting Impact Retrofit Investment in Real Estate, a public call issued by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The selection followed evaluation by an external expert committee and was announced by the ministry on 8 September 2026. The platform is already in use: in a lending and investment framework developed with a major financial institution, and in a demonstration under the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's KING SALMON PROJECT.
About the programme
The programme was established to promote investment in retrofits that create social and environmental impact in response to ESG-related societal issues. It called for schemes that evaluate the impact of a retrofit and communicate it effectively to stakeholders, including tenants, investors and local residents.
The market this addresses
Income-producing real estate in Japan is estimated at ¥352.1 trillion, of which ¥222.1 trillion is investment-grade (NLI Research Institute and Value Management Institute, “The size of Japan's real estate investment market (2025)”, December 2025). These assets are what GOYOH evaluates, and the same framework applies to publicly owned facilities as well as income-producing stock.
Decarbonisation is already entering investment decisions through frameworks such as CRREM (Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor, an international indicator of transition risk in real estate). The social impact a building has on its district and on the people who use it is not, largely because it is rarely presented in a form that can be compared or verified.
As the existing stock ages, how retrofit preserves and adds value is a question for the whole market. By bringing impact into that judgement, the scheme aims to widen the universe of investment-grade assets.
The selected evaluation scheme
The scheme gathers data from three views (the area, the users and the building) and analyses it together with data on retrofit measures. Impact identification, the selection of measures and the assessment of economic viability are carried out consistently on a single platform.
Each of the three views is handled by one of the three systems that make up REAL IMPACTs, GOYOH's social impact real estate platform: RISA (REAL IMPACTs Strategic Assessment), which collects information about the surrounding area; ImpactChecker, which gathers data directly from users; and EaSyGo ValueDriver, which assesses the sustainability performance of the building. Overlaying the three defines where impact can be created. From there, the reading is connected to concrete retrofit measures, and KPIs are set and monitored on the same basis. The design applies to privately held buildings and publicly owned facilities alike.
REAL IMPACTs: social and environmental impact, tenant experience, improvement solutions and economic performance, handled on a single platform.
The impact a building creates does not flow in one direction and stop. A building shapes the district it sits in and the working lives of the people inside it. Those effects appear as changes in the area and as things tenants become able to do. The scheme is designed to circulate them into property value, tenant value and area value, and on into the next investment decision.
MLIT's published materials record the committee's assessment of the GOYOH proposal as follows.
The approach of combining the perspectives of area, users and building to analyse impact in an integrated manner was judged to be original and to have high potential for replication. The committee also gave high marks to the specificity with which measurement methods and frequency were set out for the KPIs, and to the degree of continuity and objectivity secured in monitoring.
Source: MLIT, “Selection of model schemes under the Model Programme for Promoting Impact Retrofit Investment in Real Estate”, appendix, 8 September 2026. GOYOH's translation; the official text is in Japanese.
Where it can be used
Investors and funds: consider impact at the point of the investment decision and carry it through into monitoring during the holding period
Owners and asset managers: at the planning stage of a retrofit, work out which measures act on which impacts
Tenant companies: inform the choice of premises and obtain information usable in their own sustainability reporting
Urban development and regeneration: set impact against local issues at the planning stage and build it into project appraisal
Public bodies and departments responsible for public facilities: in publicly commissioned retrofits, clarify the connection with regional policy
The methodology behind the proposal
The methodology underlying the proposal was published in August 2026 as the RITA (REAL IMPACTs Triadic Approach) whitepaper. It overlays the three views of area, users and building, and sets out the sequence from impact identification, through a two-tier KPI architecture, to the connection with economic value across property value, tenant value and area value.
Under the programme, GOYOH will develop the scheme further and test its application to actual buildings. The intention is to document the practical sequence, from impact identification at the planning stage through post-retrofit monitoring to the assessment of economic viability, in a form other market participants can reference.
Alongside this, GOYOH will pursue the following.
Wider asset coverage: rental housing, offices, retail, hotels, resorts, logistics, mixed-use complexes, stadiums and arenas, stations and airports, and public facilities owned or managed by institutional investors and real estate companies in Japan and overseas
Urban development and regeneration: setting impact from the planning stage and building it into project appraisal, extending to city-scale applications such as smart cities
Connection with finance: preparing evaluation results in a form usable in investment decisions and fundraising
Deeper data and collaboration: closer and more effective data collection for area, users and building, together with the parties involved
Demonstration in overseas markets: testing the established procedure on assets outside Japan
GOYOH welcomes collaboration with international standards bodies working on social impact in real estate, and with funds, investors, developers, solution providers and those responsible for urban policy.
GOYOH Inc. works to a mission of building a sustainable future through experiential value, and provides EaSyGo, an integrated sustainability solution for real estate.
By looking at the environmental performance and operational data of a building alongside the behaviour and experience of the people who use it, GOYOH supports owners in pursuing social and economic value together. REAL IMPACTs, the platform underlying the selected scheme, is the part of that offering responsible for social impact evaluation.
