Roadside Land Prices Up 1.5% over Moderate Economic Recovery

Jiji Press
JR Sapporo Station is seen on Friday.

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prices of land facing roads in Japan as of Jan. 1 rose 1.5% from a year before on average, the National Tax Agency said Monday.

The roadside land prices, used to calculate inheritance and gift taxes, continued to rise thanks to a modest recovery in Japan’s economy. The urban areas led the overall rise as the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on business activities waned.

The prices went up in 25 of the country’s 47 prefectures.

Of them, Hokkaido in northern Japan registered the biggest growth at 6.8%, reflecting the recent opening of a new home stadium for the professional baseball team Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in the city of Kitahiroshima and robust demand for residential land in and around the prefecture’s capital, Sapporo.

Land prices rose 4.5% in Fukuoka Prefecture, backed by strong demand for condominiums, and 4.4% in Miyagi Prefecture thanks to increasing residential land prices mainly in the southern part of Sendai.

Hyogo, Akita and three other prefectures turned around after incurring falls the year before.

On the other hand, land prices continued to decline in 20 prefectures including Wakayama and Ehime. But the pace of drop narrowed in all 20 except Fukui.

Among the 47 prefectural capitals, the highest roadside land price rose in 29, fell in four and was flat in 13. The city of Chiba was excluded because of a survey location change.

The biggest growth among the prefectural capitals was 9.3% in Okayama, backed by urban redevelopment plans. Sapporo followed at 8.4%, with a Shinkansen bullet train line set to be extended to the city.

The worst performer was Tottori, which incurred a drop of 3.0%. Morioka, Iwate’s capital, logged a 2.2% decline.

The land in front of the Kyukyodo stationery shop in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza district had the highest per-square-meter roadside land price at ¥42.72 million, up 1.1%, staying at the top of the list for 38 years in a row.

A plot facing Midosuji avenue in the western city of Osaka came second at ¥19.2 million, up 1.3%.

A site in front of a bus terminal at the western exit of East Japan Railway Co.’s Yokohama Station in Yokohama was third. The price rose 1.4% to ¥16.8 million.