Society

Tourism helps lift Japanese land prices

Sep 20 (NHK) - A growing number of foreign tourists coming to Japan has helped push up commercial land prices throughout the country.

A government survey shows that the figure for the entire nation showed a 0.4 percent increase as of July 1st, compared to the same time last year. It was the second straight rise.

Prices of commercial land in all regions were up 1.7 percent.

The fastest growth was in the biggest urban centers of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, where prices shot up 5.2 percent.

The average price outside the big cities rose for the first time in 28 years, ticking up 0.3 percent.

Officials at the Land Ministry say demand from developers to build hotels and retail facilities catering to foreign tourists helped lift the numbers.

But it was a different story for residential land. The nation-wide average price was down 0.1 percent, marking the 28th consecutive year of decline.

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