Photo/Illutration Many foreign tourists visit the Kaminarimon gate in Tokyo's Asakusa district on Sept. 11. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Land prices across Japan rose 1.4 percent on average from the previous year, marking the third consecutive year of increases, according to a land ministry report released on Sept. 17.

This figure reflects the average rate of change at various locations nationwide.

The prices for commercial, residential and industrial land in regional areas outside the four cities of Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima and Fukuoka has increased for the first time in 32 years.

Prices have continued to rise in both urban and regional areas.

These increases indicate a clear recovery from sluggish land transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Housing demand remains strong, with significant increases in land prices, particularly in the centers of metropolitan areas.

In the three metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, residential land prices have risen for three consecutive years and commercial land prices for 12 years, with the extent of these increases also growing.

The cities of Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima and Fukuoka have also seen a 12th consecutive year of price increases for both residential and commercial land.

As a result of these price increases in urban areas, the overall average prices in regional areas outside the four cities shifted from stagnation to an increase by 0.2 percent.

In popular resort areas, demand for vacation homes and relocation properties has increased.

Onna village in Okinawa Prefecture saw the highest rate of increase in residential land prices at 29 percent.

Miyakojima island in the same prefecture and Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture also had high rates of increase.

The increase in foreign tourists has led to increases in commercial land prices in major sightseeing areas such as Tokyo’s Asakusa district and Fuji-Kawaguchiko in Yamanashi Prefecture.

Chitose in Hokkaido, Kikuyo in Kumamoto Prefecture and their surrounding areas, where major semiconductor manufacturers have established factories, saw continued increases in residential, commercial and industrial land prices.

However, rising construction costs have begun to dampen the enthusiasm for home buying, causing a slowing in the rate of price increases for residential properties in the cities of Sapporo and Sendai.

The latest report is the first released since the Noto Peninsula earthquake on Jan. 1, showing a significant decline in land prices in the affected areas.

The 10 locations with the largest decline in residential land prices were all in Ishikawa Prefecture.

The prices of residential land plots nationwide increased 0.9 percent on average, compared with a 0.7 percent increase last year.

For commercial properties, the nationwide average rate of increase was 2.4 percent, following a 1.5 percent increase last year.

For the 19th consecutive year, the most expensive piece of land in Japan was underneath the Meijiya Ginza building in Tokyo’s posh Ginza district. It was valued at 42.1 million yen ($300,000) per square meter.

Prefectural governments surveyed the prices per square meter as of July 1 for 21,436 benchmark locations nationwide, and the land ministry compiled the statistics.

(This article was written by Takeshi Owada and Yoko Masuda.)

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