Today's Edition
TOKYO (WAM)
The average overall price of land in Japan as of July 1 rose 1.4 percent from a year earlier, marking the third consecutive year of increase and the sharpest advance since 1992, amid foreign investment due to the weak yen, government data showed.
Commercial land saw a 2.4 percent jump and residential land a 0.9 percent rise, both also advancing for the third straight year and at the sharpest pace since 1992, when land prices tumbled as the country's asset-inflated economic bubble burst, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism.
"Unlike the short-term buying and selling during the bubble period, prices are steadily increasing, reflecting actual demand," the ministry report said as quoted by Kyodo News.
In regional areas of Japan, residential land prices rose 0.1 percent, commercial-use land prices rose 0.9 percent, and land prices overall grew 0.4 percent.
Prices for residential land increased in 17 of Japan's 47 prefectures.
Commercial land prices, easily influenced by growth in inbound tourism, rose in 28.
