Photo/Illutration High-rise condominiums stand side by side in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward on March 18. (Naoki Nakayama)

Land prices rose at 97 percent of locations in Tokyo in 2024 for an average overall increase of 7.3 percent, Tokyo metropolitan government statistics showed on March 18.

The prices, as of Jan. 1 this year, represented the fourth consecutive year-on-year rise in land values in the capital. The rate of increase also exceeded that of the previous year.

Demand for condominiums, especially in central Tokyo, remained high, and rising numbers of foreign visitors continued the upward price trend in commercial areas.

According to the metropolitan government, prices rose at 2,483 of 2,542 locations in Tokyo.

For the 23 wards in the center of the capital, the average rate of increase was 9.6 percent, compared with 6 percent the previous year.

Chuo Ward had the sharpest rate of increase, at 13.9 percent, up from 7.5 percent the previous year, followed by Minato Ward at 12.7 percent, up from 7.2 percent, and Meguro Ward at 12.5 percent, up from 7.3 percent.

For the Tama area in western Tokyo, the rate of increase was 3.8 percent. (It was 3 percent the previous year).

By category, residential land prices for all of Tokyo increased 5.7 percent (4.1 percent).

For the 23 wards, the rise was 7.9 percent (5.4 percent), and for the Tama area, it was 3.4 percent (2.7 percent).

The increases were particularly sharp in areas where high-rise condominium buildings are being constructed and in places with easy access to the city center.

The largest increase in the Tama area was 7 percent in Chofu, where a redevelopment project in front of Chofu Station is under way. The rate was 4.5 percent the previous year.

Komae followed, at 5.9 percent (4.2 percent), then Musashino at 5.3 percent (4.3 percent) and Fuchu also at 5.3 percent (4.4 percent).

Commercial land prices also saw a double-digit increase for the first time since 2008, the year of the Lehman Shock, rising 10.4 percent (6.3 percent).

Among the 23 wards, Nakano Ward topped the list with a 16.3-percent increase in commercial land prices (8.2 percent), followed by Suginami Ward with 15.1 percent (8 percent) and Taito Ward with 14.8 percent (9.1 percent).

For the Tama area, Fuchu’s increase was 9.2 percent (4.9 percent), Chofu’s was 8.2 percent (5.1 percent), and Musashino’s was 7.9 percent (5.8 percent).

According to the metropolitan government’s finance bureau, commercial areas, such as Asakusa and Ueno, in the 23 wards experienced strong demand from foreign tourists and for residential properties.

The price rises were sharp in areas with stores on the lower floors and condominiums on the upper floors, the bureau said.

In the Tama area, retail demand recovered around areas being redeveloped near stations on the JR Chuo Line and Keio Line.

Land prices in these areas were also pushed up by competition to meet demand for condominiums, the bureau said.

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