The FINANCIAL -- The average nationwide land price as of Jan. 1 was down 4.6% on the year, for the second straight annual drop, according to a survey the Land Ministry released on March 18.
The pace of decline accelerated from the 3.5% drop posted a year earlier, reflecting weak office space and residential home demand since the onset of the financial crisis.
Prices fell in all 47 prefectures, and rose at only seven of 27,410 reference sites across Japan -- the fewest since the survey began in 1970.
The average nationwide land price dropped steadily since the collapse of Japan's economic bubble in the early 1990s, but it rose for two straight years in 2007 and 2008. It resumed the downtrend in 2009.
Land prices rose at five reference sites in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, and at two sites in Shizuoka Prefecture.
The average residential land price fell 4.2% on the year, while the average commercial property value dropped 6.1%. The residential land price fell to the 1983 level, while the commercial property price plummeted to roughly 30% of the peak value recorded in 1991, the lowest since the survey began.
Average land prices for both purposes fell 5% in the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya metropolitan regions, significantly more than the 4.2% recorded in all other areas.
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