Residential land prices down for 19th straight year in Japan

OKYO, Sept. 21 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Japan's average residential land price fell 3.4 percent in the year to July 1, marking the 19th straight year of decline, although the drop was less than the 4.0 percent fall recorded for the previous year, the government said Tuesday.
The nation's average commercial land price also decreased 4.6 percent, the third consecutive annual drop, compared with the previous year's 5.9 percent fall in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis.

Of the 21,786 locations subjected to the annual land price survey this year and last year, 98.5 percent registered decreases, down only 0.3 percentage point from the previous year.

Just 27 locations registered increased land prices, the second lowest, after last year's three, since the government initiated the survey in 1975.

In the three metropolitan regions of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, price drops halved as transactions in condominiums expanded with investment in rental offices recovering.

"Signs of an end to land price falls were seen in the three metropolitan regions," said an official at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

In the Tokyo region, average residential land prices fell 3.0 percent, compared with 4.1 percent for commercial sites.

In the Nagoya region, price drops were limited to 1.3 percent for residential land and 2.9 percent for commercial land.

The Osaka region saw a 3.6 percent fall in the average residential land price and a 5.3 percent decline in the commercial one.

For the other regions, the average residential land price decreased 3.6 percent and the average commercial land price fell 4.8 percent.

All of Japan's 47 prefectures saw land price falls for the second straight year.

The rate of decline in land prices slowed in 18 prefectures, including those in the metropolitan regions, while price drops accelerated in 24 others.

Among commercial points covered by the land price survey, a location in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district recorded the highest price of 20.2 million yen per square meter. The highest residential land price was 2.83 million yen per square meter in Gobancho of Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.

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