In its annual survey of land prices covering 26,000 locations throughout the country, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism announced Tuesday that the land prices had stopped falling for the first time in nine years, as of Jan. 1, 2017, and the average nationwide residential land price had edged up just above the zero level to 0.022 percent from a year earlier.
Okinawa recorded the highest increase in residential land prices of all prefectures, as they 3.1 percent, an increase for the fourth consecutive year.
The rate for the residential land prices in Okinawa is considerably higher than the national average of 0.4%, and the rise is accelerating.
Commercial land prices rose even more at 4.5% that is also the highest in the nation, which puts Okinawa in the 5th place. Osaka experienced the steepest price rise of commercial land at 5%.
The land price in the residential areas in Okinawa increased in the same 18 municipalities as last year. The highest residential land price in the prefecture for the 6th consecutive year was in Omoromachi 3-Chome, Naha City, where the price was pegged at ¥230,000 per square meter. The priciest commercial land was at Kumoji, 3-Chome, Naha City for the 16th consecutive where one square meter of land now costs ¥908,000, a 6.2% increase from last year.