TOKYO - 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 percent increase from a year earlier as of Jan. 1, 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 percent from a year earlier, while that for the three big metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya surged 7.8 percent.
Commercial land prices in four major cities outside the three metropolitan areas -- Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka -- went up 6.4 percent, while those in rural areas grew 1.1 percent.
Residential land prices rose 2.1 percent nationally and by 3.5 percent 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.
Meanwhile, by specific location, Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture, a ski resort attracting wealthy individuals seeking vacation homes, recorded the steepest residential land price rise at 33.0 percent.
Chitose in Hokkaido, known for a booming semiconductor industry, saw the sharpest increase in commercial land prices at 44.1 percent around JR Chitose Station.
On the other hand, Hombetsu, another municipality in Hokkaido, suffered the sharpest drop in residential land prices at 6.3 percent, while the quake-hit Wajima in Ishikawa Prefecture observed the steepest fall in commercial land prices, also at 6.3 percent.
Many areas in Ishikawa Prefecture observed falls in land prices due to the influence of a powerful earthquake that rocked the Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day of 2024, but their rates of decrease have shrunk as the removal of destroyed houses, covered by public funds, proceeds.
By spot, the main store of Yamano Music Co. in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district logged the highest land price among the surveyed locations nationwide for the 20th consecutive year, fetching 67.1 million yen ($420,000) per square meter, up 10.9 percent from a year earlier.
