Pandemic leads to Japan land prices falling for 1st time in 6 yrs

Kyodo -- Mar 23

The average price of land in Japan fell for the first time in six years due to declining demand for urban commercial land spurred by the novel coronavirus pandemic, the government said Tuesday.

Land in all categories, including residential and industrial, fell 0.5 percent from a year earlier as of Jan. 1., compared with a 1.4 percent rise a year earlier.

All-category land prices in the three largest metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya slipped 0.7 percent from the previous year, while rural land prices dipped 0.3 percent. The land ministry said the effects of the pandemic on land prices were "relatively small" in rural areas.

Of Japan's 47 prefectures, 39 saw commercial land prices decline, while residential land prices dropped in 38 prefectures, according to the annual government survey covering some 26,000 locations.

A recovery was seen in land prices in the second half of 2020 when the spread of the virus in Japan subsided. But a full-scale recovery is unlikely in the near future as Tokyo and some other areas were under a second pandemic-necessitated state of emergency from early January to Sunday.

Mar 23 (ANNnewsCH) - 新型コロナウイルスが影響し、東京・銀座の地価が9年ぶりに下落しました。  国土交通省が公表した今年1月1日時点の商業地の地価は銀座の山野楽器本店のエリアが1平方メートル、5360万円と15年連続で全国最高価格になりました。  しかし、去年より7.1%下がって9年ぶりに下落しています。  また、東京・浅草や東京・新宿歌舞伎町も大幅に下落していて、新型コロナが大きく影響したものとみられます。