By YUTA HANANO/ Staff Writer
July 3, 2023 at 18:52 JST
JR Tower, a skyscraper on the right, is above JR Sapporo Station, in December 2022. A new tower will be constructed in the vacant lot to the left of the JR Tower. (Provided by Sapporo city government)
Marking the second consecutive year of increase, land prices in Japan as of the start of 2023 rose 1.5 percent on average from a year earlier, according to government data released on July 3.
With the economy recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, rising land prices are starting to move from cities to other regional areas.
The nationwide average had climbed for five years in a row through 2020 but fell 0.5 percent in 2021 due to the pandemic.
In 2022, the average rebounded with a 0.5 percent rise, with this year’s rate of increase exceeding it.
Of Japan’s 47 prefectures, land prices rose in 25 prefectures, compared to 20 last year.
Hokkaido topped the list with a 6.8 percent hike, followed by 4.5 percent in Fukuoka Prefecture and 4.4 percent in Miyagi Prefecture.
In Okinawa Prefecture, where the number of tourists is recovering, land prices rose 3.6 percent.
Tokyo saw a rise of 3.2 percent, Aichi Prefecture 2.6 percent and Osaka 1.4 percent.
Nagano and Shiga prefectures have leveled off.
Twenty prefectures saw declines, but the rates of drop were smaller than last year, except for Fukui Prefecture.
The highest land prices in prefectural capitals rose in 29 cities.
A plot of land in the Chuo-dori main street in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district, which annually is the most expensive land in Japan, fetched 42.72 million yen ($295,000) per square meter, a 1.1 percent increase from the previous year.
The National Tax Agency each year surveys prices per square meter of land facing major roads. The prices are used to calculate inheritance and gift taxes.
The agency calculates the roadside land price based on 80 percent of the official land price as of Jan. 1 announced by the land ministry, using examples of sales and purchases, as well as opinions from real estate appraisers.
This year, it was calculated for around 322,000 locations.
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