The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) announced this year’s Standard Land Prices on September 20.
Nationwide, land prices declined for the 25th year in a row with a 0.6% decrease, although the rate of decline is slowing. Meanwhile, commercial land prices stopped their downwards trend for the first time in 9 years.
Land prices in Japan’s urban centres of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya continued to benefit from booming foreign tourist numbers, redevelopment and infrastructure projects, shrinking office vacancy rates, and monetary easing.
Commercial land prices in these three cities increased by 2.9%, representing a fastening pace after 2.3% growth in 2015 and 1.7% growth in 2014. In the Tokyo metropolitan area, commercial land prices increased by 4.1% in 2016, after a 3.3% increase in 2015. In Osaka city, they were up 4.7% this year.