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Wednesday August 1, 10:23 AMJapan's average land prices surge 8.6% this year(Kyodo) _ The average price of land per square meter along selected streets across Japan surged 8.6 percent, or 10,000 yen, over a year earlier to 126,000 yen ($1,060) as of Jan. 1, the National Tax Agency said Wednesday.Increasing investment in properties and large redevelopment projects helped push prices more than 40 percent higher in urban areas such as Tokyo's Omotesando shopping district. "Roadside land prices" assessed at some 410,000 locations across Japan are used as a benchmark to calculate inheritance and gift taxes for each year. The national average turned upward last year for the first time in 14 years. The latest survey indicated that land price increases, previously seen as being limited to the three large-city areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, have been spreading into major regional cities. However, many rural areas are seeing prices falling, and the gap in land prices between large and small cities continues to widen, the agency said. In the Tokyo area, the average price soared 13.1 percent, compared with last year's rise of 3.5 percent. The Osaka area marked an increase of 8.1 percent against the 0.7 percent growth in 2006 while the Nagoya area saw a 9.1 percent rise against 2.1 percent. In regional areas, the average was flat, compared with a 5.7 percent decline last year, halting price falls that started in 1993. The highest roadside land prices rose in 20 of 47 prefectural capitals over the year, up from last year's 15 capital cities. Nine capital cities -- Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Fukuoka -- saw more than 20 percent increases in average land prices this year. Only Tokyo and Nagoya saw increases of that much last year. Land prices jumped more than 40 percent in Tokyo's Omotesando district, Osaka's Umeda area and JR Nagoya Station in Nagoya. The average land price climbed in 12 of 47 prefectures, including Hyogo Prefecture, which turned upward for the first time since 1992. In Shizuoka, Nara, Okayama and Ehime prefectures, falls in the average land price stopped for the first time since 1993, staying unchanged from last year's survey. The remaining 31 prefectures marked declines with Oita Prefecture expanding the margin of slide by 0.3 percentage point. A piece of land in front of Kyukyodo, a stationary store in Tokyo's Ginza high-end shopping district, remained the most expensive real estate in Japan for the 22nd straight year, rising 33.3 percent to 24.96 million yen per sq. meter. That price represents nearly 70 percent of the peak recorded during the country's asset-inflated bubble economy period in the late 1980s and early 1990s. |
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