Tokyo area condo prices top 100 mil. yen for 1st time in 6 months

TOKYO - The average price of a new condominium in Tokyo and its three surrounding prefectures in February rose 38.8 percent from a year earlier to 110.25 million yen ($694,000), topping 100 million yen for the first time in six months, a research institute said Wednesday.

The price in the capital and Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures hit its second-highest level since 1973 when comparable data became available, marking a year-on-year increase for the 10th straight month, on the back of rising construction costs, according to the Real Estate Economic Institute.