THE average price of land in Japan climbed for the fifth consecutive year amid a modest economic recovery, government data showed Tuesday.
The nationwide average of land prices in all categories logged a 2.8 per cent increase from a year earlier as of 1 January, the sharpest rise since the burst of Japan’s asset price bubble in the early 1990s, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Average prices for both residential-use land and commercial-use land rose.
“Demand for shops and hotels was robust, backed by an increase in visitors from overseas,” a ministry official explained.
For commercial land, the national average price rose 4.3 per cent from a year earlier, while that for the three big metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya surged 7.8 per cent.
Commercial land prices in four major cities outside the three metropolitan areas — Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka — went up 6.4 per cent, while those in rural areas grew 1.1 per cent.
Residential land prices rose 2.1 per cent nationally and by 3.5 per cent both in the three metropolitan areas and in the four major cities.
The rates of increase in land prices in the four major cities, however, shrank compared with a year earlier, as some people and businesses are believed to be holding off on purchases of homes and development projects due to high construction costs.
Prices for commercial land increased in 38 of the country’s 47 prefectures, while those for residential land rose in 31 prefectures. By prefecture, Tokyo returned to the top spot for the steepest rise in residential land price for the first time in 18 years, driven by brisk demand for condominiums in the heart of the capital. — Kyodo