It hardly comes as any surprise that land prices have tumbled in the three prefectures of northeastern Japan most affected by the March 11 disaster.
It hardly comes as any surprise that land prices have tumbled in the three prefectures of northeastern Japan most affected by the March 11 disaster.
Land prices in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures all posted drops sharper than the national average in an annual survey taken by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
In a report released Sept. 20, the ministry said the price of land in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, recorded the largest decline--18.2 percent--of all spots surveyed as of July 1.
The national average of land for all purposes, including homes, businesses and industrial use, was down 3.4 percent from last year. The figure for 2010 represented a drop of 3.7 percent. The findings showed the pace of decline had slowed.
It was the first land survey taken since the Great East Japan Earthquake spawned massive tsunami and an unprecedented nuclear crisis.
The national average price of land for homes slid 3.2 percent, compared with 3.4 percent last year. Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures reported a drop of 4.7 percent, 3.8 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.
The comparable figure for land for businesses was 4.0 percent. The figure last year was 4.6 percent. Under the latest survey, the Atami district of Koriyama in Fukushima Prefecture posted the largest decline of 15.0 percent, of all the comparable spots surveyed.
The annual survey was expected to cover 22,460 sites.
But 93 sites were excluded from the survey because of a paucity of transactions in the aftermath of the disaster.
They include Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture and Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, which were devastated by tsunami, as well as locations neighboring the hobbled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture and Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, which was damaged by liquefaction caused by the magnitude-9.0 temblor.
The pace of decline in prices of land for businesses slowed in 31 prefectures, a sign that land prices may bottom out after a plunge triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in autumn 2008.
Urayasu, which boasts a pricey waterfront district in the Tokyo Bay area, reported a drop of 7.1 percent for residential land.
The largest decline for land for homes and for businesses was in Kochi Prefecture, with 7.8 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively.
Continuing depopulation and fears about a Nankai earthquake striking south of Shikoku apparently affected land transactions.