The average price of land fronting main roads dropped for the ninth straight year in the 12 months to Jan. 1, falling 6.2 percent to 137,000 yen per sq. meter, the National Tax Administration said Friday.

But the margin of decline, based on data at the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry from some 400,000 locations nationwide, shrank 0.8 percentage point from the previous year's 7 percent, the administration said.

The so-called roadside land price is used to assess inheritance, gift and landholding taxes for 2001.