Japan Land Prices Rise for First Time Since Early '90s

Japan Land Prices Rise for First Time Since Early '90s

TOKYO -- Japan's tax agency said the average price of land rose around the country for the first time in 14 years, lifted by gains in Japan's three major metropolitan areas.

The report signals that Japanese property values are slowly rebounding from a slide that began in the early 1990s.

The National Tax Agency's survey found the average price of land along selected major streets across the country rose to 114,000 yen ($994) per square meter as of Jan. 1, up 1,000 yen, or 0.9%, from a year earlier. The agency assessed land prices at about 410,000 locations.

Higher average land prices in five of Japan's 47 prefectures combined to push up the national average. Those five are home to the country's three major urban areas, which center on Tokyo, Nagoya and the western metropolitan region that includes both Osaka and Kyoto.

Average land prices rose in Tokyo for a second straight year, climbing 5.4% to 484,000 yen per square meter. While the average land price continued to fall in the remaining 42 prefectures, the rate of decline slowed in 33 of those districts.