Mar 28 (NHK) - Land prices in Japan's three biggest cities and their surrounding urban areas have increased for a fifth straight year. Prices are also starting to rise in the rest of the country, for the first time in 26 years.
This is partly due to higher demand for land to build hotels and stores that will serve the growing number of foreign visitors to Japan.
Land Ministry officials released data on about 26,000 locations nationwide as of January 1st.
The average land price in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and their surrounding areas rose 1.5 percent -- a fifth straight annual increase.
Land prices outside the 3 major urban areas rose 0.04 percent from a year earlier -- the first rise since 1992.
Key regional cities Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima and Fukuoka saw an average increase of 4.6 percent.
Low mortgage rates on the back of the central bank's negative interest rate policy also pushed up land prices.
