Land prices up in half of Japan's rural areas for 1st time in 33 years

"The upward trend is continuing as the economy moderately recovers," 

Any mention about inflation? Of course not.

Maybe they think foreign tourists may want to buy it up, like around Niseko?

Land prices up in YEN ONLY. Trying selling land and buying anything, especially real assets like food, energy, metals, etc., you'll find you're buying powers collapsed.

Land prices also not adjusted for inflation.

Anyone think aging depopulating country's land prices appreciate in "REAL" terms? Just a Govt. Con-Game.

Anyone think aging depopulating country's land prices appreciate in "REAL" terms? Just a Govt. Con-Game.

Yeah I wonder how rapidly depopulating countryside can have appreciating prices. With the exception of a few desirable spots such as Niseko, Nagano, Okinawa..

Chinese are buying land up in Japan.

"Land prices up in half of Japan's rural areas for 1st time in 33 years."

More land is needed to make farming cool again.

Chinese are buying land up in Japan.

Lots of articles in certain media about that. Then again that is a world wide phenomena, not so different from what Japanese were doing during the bubble either. Comes in waves.

With a few exceptions, these are modest rises in single digit percentage growth.

I,d be interested to see the difference in yen value from the bubble until now.

If you bought in the bubble, you would never recover your investment.

This is a problem if foreign companies are buying up big chunks of forest etc.

Honda the ex-footballer tweeted a couple of months ago that foreigners shouldn't be able to buy land in Japan. If its a case of non-resident foreigners, I agree that there should be some checks, and possibly even restrictions which they have in several other countries like Thailand. It seems like buying land in Japan is a free for all.

Build costs have skyrocketed in Japan in the last ten years. We could not afford to do the build we did in 2007 at 2025 prices. We'd get a slightly better house, definitely better windows, but it would have cost around 50% more due to cost increases and the rise in consumption tax. I suspect this cost increase will affect far more people than the change in land prices.

Para 4, the words ‘investment demand’ and ‘foreigners’ say it all

Like a couple of the posters above mentioned, I've been hearing that a lot of Chinese and other overseas' investors are buying up property due the relative drop in prices to the stronger foreign currencies.

I wish the Chinese would get around to buying up some property around my city since land value has stayed stagnant here, including in 2024. But they're usually buying up property around manufacturing hubs, companies that Chinese are involved or interested in or recreational areas.

Problem is the Yen has lost its purchasing power, FAR faster than any supposed 'appreciation' that does not even account for inflation.

Govt. loves above because they can then claim there is no "deflation" within Japanese real estate, which is technically true as all Yen assets now buy fewer real assets.

Not your imagination, prices of real assets like groceries skyrocketing in Japan due to Yen loss of purchasing power.

If you can believe it, some highly diversified commodity indexes priced in dollars, Yen today buys less 20% of what it bought less than 5 years ago. Nothing's changed regarding these indexes = EXACT Same Commodities

These figures are also quite misleading. Just because the average price of ALL land in Gunma (for example) has gone up, it does not mean that ALL land has increased in value. Even specific plots in the same area can have different values. Just the boom in Furano is going to boost the average price in Hokkaido. But doesn't mean that a plot in Tomakomai is worth more than last year.

I think the truism in land prices is scarcity of availability will lead to higher prices.

No scarcity in rural areas, mainly because no demographic push.

The increases here are probably just mini corrections.

We need more information to understand this headline. “Land” is pretty vague.

Farm land? Given the plans to increase rice production that might make sense.

Residential? I don’t see rural residential property as an enticing investment for foreigners as there is more of it available than can be used. Also, Japan isn’t on the BS “home appreciation cycle that has crippled the markets in the USA. Homes go DOWN in value here.

VanillasludgeToday  05:17 pm JST

We need more information to understand this headline. “Land” is pretty vague. 

Farm land? Given the plans to increase rice production that might make sense.

Sorry, to clarify what I said..Just saying prices are up across the board doesn’t mean much. Residential prices up, from what? Akiya prices?

Also, if half are up, half are not, which is not exactly a raging success.

Land prices up is NOT a good thing. Does not benefit the economy or the people.

In fact, land prices are so bad, including all the empty "ikiya" homes, that you're seeing big drops in numbers of new condo units being built for years now in Kanto area.

People in condos like me don't want land exposure, a terrible asset, even worse if financing via bank loan.

Obvious Govt. wants to encourage Japanese to buy increasing empty homes by not approving condo construction

You can find the survey data quite easily if you want to know how they calculate it. They use both residential and commercial land in a certain number of towns, and list them separately. Your local newspaper will probably print it out for all the spots in your prefecture. I know ours does.

In Japan's case, its location location location on steroids. Somewhere a 30 minute drive from Niseko will be barely affected by it. For inaka people, this will seem far away. The fact that folks working in Tokyo may do 90 minute commutes won't be seen as relevant.

Think of it this way, if one sold ALL the real estate in Japan TODAY, assuming it hasn't appreciated in the aggregate net of inflation (conservative) for past 5 years.

Yen from above resulting land sale, conservatively would buy 5X fewer real assets or commodities than would have been the case 5 years prior (2020) with same sale.

Commodities priced in US$, so removing FX component, and using US$, real assets it can buy approx. 3X fewer than 5 years prior, meaning Yen has lost approx. 66% of its value, from approx. 90 in 2020 to 150 today.

Real Assets = weighting of Foods, Energies & Metals

Conclusion = all yen assets rapidly becoming worthless

But what makes land in Japan particularly bad is there's almost no way to earn any income, as depopulation and aging has destroyed agriculture in rural areas especially

chatanista Today 11:35 am JST

Chinese are buying land up in Japan.

Lots of articles in certain media about that. Then again that is a world wide phenomena, not so different from what Japanese were doing during the bubble either. Comes in waves.

The difference is that the china-nese are buying property near key military or strategic locations......just what you'd expect from faithful servants of the Party.

I also question HOW the money to buy the property came about. Money Laundering of black money?

Wesley.... I think you may have swallowed a little too much of the anti China propaganda.

Chinese ARE buying some property in Japan as Japan is one of the few Asian countries that allow foreigners to buy land. Personally, I think there are better investments for me but the Chinese tax system may be different.

Japan should implement for Chinese buyers the exact same rules for Japanese to buy land in China.

1.Residency Requirement – Foreign individuals must have lived in China for at least one year for work or study before they are allowed to buy property.

2.One Property Limit – Foreigners are typically restricted to purchasing one residential property for personal use. Commercial properties have different rules.

3.Government Approval – Foreign buyers must obtain approval from local authorities before completing a purchase.

4.Leasehold Land System – In China, land ownership remains with the government, and property is acquired on a leasehold basis (usually 70 years for residential land, 50 years for commercial use, and 40 years for industrial use).

5.No Agricultural Land – Foreigners are generally not allowed to purchase agricultural or rural land.

6.Company Purchases – Foreign companies can buy commercial property but need to register a legal entity in China.

Fair is fair.

The danger of selling to Chinese buyers is that under Chinese law, citizens must abide by whatever the Chinese government demands. And that can include espionage. Any place of stragic value can be a target.

kohakuebisuToday  05:59 pm JST

In Japan's case, its location location location on steroids. Somewhere a 30 minute drive from Niseko will be barely affected by it. 

Kutchan has been affected by Niseko, and it's 10-15 min by car. So has Rankoshi 20 min, Kyogoku 25 min, Makkari 15 min.

It sounds like folks are branching out from Niseko, but I did guess at "30 minutes". 10 years ago, 20 minutes away would have been enough to escape the boom. 20 years ago you could have bought cheaply in Niseko itself.

Its still very localized at the Nagano resorts, you don't have to go far down the road to get a house for peanuts.

Really a big bet on continued growth in foreign skiers and snowboarders, and climate permitting skiing in Hokkaido, Nagano, etc. As Japan's domestic skiers and snowboarders falling rapidly with Aging & Depopulation.

Above an exception to falling land prices in Japan, as demographics is destiny in real estate.

 Somewhere a 30 minute drive from Niseko will be barely affected by it. For inaka people, this will seem far away. 

Glad you realized that you guessed at 30 minutes. With the increased traffic, 30 minutes away is not as far these days as it used to be, even with some improvement in the road infrastructure. I recall looking at some rural land in the 30 minute out vicinity about 7 years ago, and was surprised at how expensive it was compared to lands in other parts of Hokkaido. The buying up is pretty strong in the general area. Perhaps something like 40 or 50 kilos out from Niseko would be a better benchmark for saying that the prices would not be increasing much. That boom has long tentacles.