The average land price in Japan as of Jan. 1 rose 2.8% from a year earlier, up for the fifth straight year, the land ministry said Tuesday.

The growth, up from the previous year¡¯s 2.7%, reflected a gradual economic recovery, as well as growing demand for condominiums in large cities such as Tokyo.

For residential areas, the nationwide average land price climbed 2.1%, virtually unchanged from the year before. The country¡¯s three largest urban areas around Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya recorded a price increase of 3.5%.

Among the country¡¯s 47 prefectures, Tokyo posted the highest price growth, at 6.5%, for the first time in 18 years. Six of the 10 residential areas with the fastest price increases were in central Tokyo.

In the four major regional cities of Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, the average residential land price rose 3.5%, up for the 13th year in a row. However, the growth decelerated by 1.4 percentage points, partly due to rising construction costs.

Elsewhere in the country, resort areas in Hokkaido and Nagano Prefecture saw steep price increases, thanks to expanding demand for vacation homes among the wealthy in Japan and abroad, as well as housing demand from people relocating to these areas.

Although mortgage rates are trending upward in line with interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan, a land ministry official said that its impact on land prices has not been clearly observed.

For commercial districts, the nationwide average price rose 4.3%, up from 3.9% the previous year, reflecting an increase in foreign tourists to the country as well as the opening of new factories by semiconductor manufacturers.

By prefecture, residential land prices turned upward in Toyama Prefecture, while commercial land prices turned higher in Aomori, Tochigi, Gunma and Yamanashi prefectures.

The cities of Wajima and Suzu, in Ishikawa Prefecture, which were hit hard by the January 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, continued to see land price falls, albeit at a slower pace.

The most expensive residential land plot was located in the Akasaka district of Tokyo¡¯s Minato Ward for the ninth straight year, at ?7.11 million per square meter. The highest commercial land price was ?67.1 million per square meter, at the site of Yamano Music¡¯s main store in the upscale Ginza district of Tokyo¡¯s Chuo Ward, which led the list for the 20th consecutive year.