Jiji Press TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Land prices in Japan as of Jan. 1 rose for the first time in eight years, reflecting a recovery trend in the country’s economy, a land ministry survey showed Tuesday.

The average of posted land prices in 25,255 surveyed locations across Japan went up 0.1 percent from a year before, reversing a downtrend that had been in place since 2009, when the world was mired in a financial crisis exacerbated by the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

While the average posted price of residential land fell 0.2 percent, that of commercial land climbed 0.9 percent.

“The land price hikes can be attributed to the rising profitability of shops and growing hotel demand stemming from an increase of tourists visiting Japan,” an official of the land ministry said. “Another factor was a decline in the office vacancy rates in urban areas.”

In the three metropolitan regions of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, the average residential land price rose 0.5 percent and the average commercial land price increased 2.9 percent, both going up for the third straight year.

In the four ordinance-designated major regional cities of Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, residential land prices climbed 2.3 percent and commercial land prices increased 5.7 percent, both rising at faster paces than in the three metropolitan regions, an indication that the increase in land prices has spread to broader areas in Japan.

Many locations in Sapporo, scored sizable land price hikes, partly thanks to city-center redevelopment projects, including the launch of a streetcar loop line in December.

The highest commercial land price was ¥40.1 million per square meter at Yamano Music Co.’s main store in Tokyo’s upmarket Ginza district, hitting a new record high.

The music store, which registered the previous record high of ¥39 million in 2008, kept the No. 1 position for the 10th consecutive year.

A surveyed location in the Shinsaibashisuji district in Osaka’s Chuo Ward, a popular shopping spot among Chinese tourists, scored the fastest rate of commercial land price appreciation at 45.1 percent.

In regional areas as a whole, however, the average residential land price fell 0.7 percent and the average commercial land price declined 0.5 percent, both going down for the 24th consecutive year.Speech