The land and infrastructure ministry reported on March 18 that both residential land prices and commercial land prices in the Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka megalopolises increased in the 12 months to Jan. 1, marking the first rise of both land prices in six years. These areas saw the average residential land prices rise 0.5 percent and the average commercial land prices go up 1.6 percent.
Outside the three megalopolises, both residential and commercial land prices increased in Sapporo, Sendai, Fukuoka, Kusatsu in Shiga Prefecture and Naha in Okinawa Prefecture. However, land prices declined at about 75 percent of the survey locations in nonmetropolitan areas.
Except for last-minute purchases before the consumption tax raise from April 1, most of the land price rises is believed to have been caused by investment and real demand that reflect expectations of a recovery under the Abe administration's economic policy.