TOKYO - Japan’s average roadside land price rose 2.9% from a year earlier, marking the steepest increase on record, as inbound tourism and redevelopment pushed up land valuations across the country.
The roadside land price, used as a benchmark for assessing land values and often seen as a barometer of the economy, has continued to climb each year. In Tokyo’s Ginza district, the assessed value in front of Kyukyodo stood at 53.36 million yen per square meter.
Kenichiro Yume, chief researcher at Urban Future Research Institute, said the scale of the increase was comparable to the period of Japan’s Heisei-era asset bubble. This year’s rise was the largest since 2010.
The area with the highest rate of increase nationwide was Hakuba Village in Nagano Prefecture, where land values rose 32.7% from the previous year. Hakuba is known as one of Japan’s leading ski destinations, and the increase is believed to have been driven by inbound tourism. The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a record high last year.
In Tokyo, the biggest increase was recorded in Asakusa, another area popular with foreign tourists, where land values rose 27.5%. The growth in foreign visitors is believed to have lifted assessed values in tourist destinations around the country.
Other parts of Tokyo saw sharp gains for different reasons. Kitasenju in Adachi Ward ranked second in the capital with a 24.2% rise, while Nakano ranked third with a 22.4% increase.
Takao Kato, who has run Nogata Seika, a greengrocer in Nakano, for half a century, said the neighborhood has changed dramatically. "Nakano has changed completely. Atre is huge. With redevelopment, buildings have gone up, condominiums have gone up. It has changed. It makes you say, wow."
Footage of the Nakano area from about 30 years ago shows a streetscape far different from today. In addition to its convenient access, continuous redevelopment has increased Nakano’s value as a residential area, pushing up roadside land prices.
The rise is also affecting residents. A woman in her 30s said the rent for the condominium where she lives is being raised by about 50,000 yen. A university student in her 20s who gave up moving to the area said, "I thought it would be very convenient if I lived here," but added, "There were no properties left."
Eikichi Maeda, a room adviser at real estate company Layout, said condominium prices have also risen. "For condominiums, the price per tsubo is 7.259 million yen, up about 20%. Investors and buyers are often making purchases. There are also many people who continue living here with expectations for redevelopment."
Kitasenju, which ranked second in Tokyo, is also in the middle of redevelopment, with a series of tower condominiums being built. The question now is how long the rise in roadside land prices will continue.
Source: TBS
