Prices of land facing major roads in Japan as of Jan. 1 rose 2.7% from a year before on average, up for the fourth consecutive year, the National Tax Agency said Tuesday.

Roadside land prices, used to calculate inheritance and gift taxes, logged their steepest increase since the current calculation method was introduced in 2010, reflecting a spike in demand for homes and hotels, as well as resort facilities targeting visitors to Japan.

Prices were up in 35 of the country's 47 prefectures.

Tokyo registered the largest increase of 8.1%, likely due to a fall in the office vacancy rate and rising land demand for stores and hotels, followed by Okinawa Prefecture at 6.3%.

Roadside land prices fell in the remaining 12 prefectures, including the prefectures of Niigata and Gifu, down by four from a year before. The pace of decline slowed in seven prefectures.

A total of 35 prefectural capitals marked rises in their highest roadside land prices. On the other hand, one city registered a decline, while prices were unchanged in 11 cities.

The city of Saitama logged the steepest increase in highest roadside prices among the 35 prefectural capitals, at 11.9%, followed by the city of Chiba at 11.2%, apparently reflecting redevelopment projects near Omiya Station in Saitama and Chiba Station in Chiba, which are both major train stations.

The plot of land in front of the Kyukyodo stationery shop in Tokyo's upscale Ginza district had the highest per-square-meter roadside land price in the country at a record ¥48.08 million, maintaining the top position for 40 years in a row. The price was up by 8.7%.

The latest data incorporated for the first time the impact of a massive earthquake that rocked the Noto Peninsula in the central Japan prefecture of Ishikawa on Jan. 1, 2024.

The roadside land price plunged 16.7% in the Asaichi-dori morning market street in the Ishikawa city of Wajima, which was among the hardest-hit areas in the disaster.

Meanwhile, a plot in the village of Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture registered the steepest price increase among the sites with the highest roadside land prices in all areas of the country, at 32.4%, against a 32.1% increase in the previous year.

According to the village's statistics, the number of tourists visiting Hakuba in 2024 surged to 2.71 million, up 1.9 times from 2021.

"Many skiers mainly from Australia, Europe and the United States come here for our high-quality powder snow," said Yojiro Fukushima of the village's tourism bureau.

"We recently see a lot of foreign visitors in the summertime as well," he added.

Located at the foot of a ski resort, the Kitanomine area in the city of Furano in Hokkaido logged the second biggest increase, at 30.2%, while the Kaminarimon-dori street in Tokyo's Asakusa district, a popular sightseeing spot, had the third sharpest rise, at 29.0%, against a 16.7% rise in the previous year.