The average price of all types of land in Japan's rural areas rose last year for the first time since 1992, aided by redevelopment projects and improvement in infrastructure, the government said Wednesday.

Land in all categories, including residential and industrial land in the nation's regional areas, excluding the big cities of Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, grew 0.1 percent from a year earlier as of Jan. 1, while commercial land prices in those areas rose 0.3 percent — both figures seeing the first increase in 28 years, it said.

Residential land prices in those rural areas, which had been falling since 1996, were unchanged from a year earlier, an annual government survey showed. However, the upward trend could reverse if the current coronavirus outbreak further damages the economy, analysts said.