The average price rose by 1.5%. It had grown at 3.1% in 1991, when prices rose just before Japan’s asset-price bubble began to deflate.
Both major segments gained, though at different speeds, commercial land by 2.9% on demand for shops and hotels and residential land by 1.0%.
Much of tourist spending flows into retail and hotel sites, while home-buying is a slower, more rate-sensitive decision, according to Kyodo News.
Land prices in the Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya metro areas jumped by 4.4%, more than 10 times the 0.4% gain seen in the rest of the country.
Commercial land prices rose in 34 of the country’s 47 prefectures, with the remaining 13 being mostly areas with shrinking populations and little tourism or industry, Kyodo News added.
Hakuba, the Nagano ski resort popular with foreign visitors, saw a 35.6% jump in commercial land prices.
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Snow-covered properties in Nagano, Japan, where demand for ski resorts is driving land prices higher. Photo by Pexels |
In the residential segment, Furano in Hokkaido, another international ski destination, led with a 32.0% rise.
These point to inbound resort investment as a distinct driver, separate from ordinary urban housing demand, according to Nikkei Asia.
An official of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said land prices are generally maintaining an upward trend as the economy continues to recover.
The rise comes after decades of weakness following Japan’s asset-price bubble in late 1980s, making the 1.5% increase part of a gradual recovery rather than a return to the rapid price growth seen during the bubble era, according to Reuters.