Chapter 5 Section 2 Features of, and Reasons for, Land Price Trends in the Metropolitan Areas Shown in Published Land Prices in 2003

In relation to land price trends in Japan for the year 2002, based on the results of published land prices in 2003 were explained above. The following features stand out when focusing on each area.

1. Three Metropolitan Areas

(1) With regard to lands for residential properties,

① in the Tokyo area,
	- The extent of the decline in land prices diminished in most cases, In the Wards Area in Tokyo, the extent of the decline has decreased for four consecutive years and in the Central Wards Area in Tokyo, in particular, land prices were almost leveling off and in the South West Wards Area in Tokyo, land prices are in the trend of leveling off, In all points of land in Shibuya ward and Minato ward, land prices increased or leveled off. In Shibuya ward, overall land prices increased for the first time in 15 years, from the leveled off in the previous year, and in Minato Ward, overall land prices have leveled off after two year increase. In Chiyoda ward, there emerged points of land which land prices increased, and in Bunkyo ward, there emerged points of land which land prices became level off. In Ota ward, the number of points of land greatly increased which land prices increased and leveled off. Also in "Tama Area", "Near Tokyo Area in Saitama Prefecture" and "Near Tokyo Area in Chiba Prefecture", there emerged many points which became leveled off.
② in the Osaka area,
	- The extent of the decline in land prices increased in more than half of the areas in the Osaka area, but in Osaka City and Kobe City the width of land prices decline diminished. In the Central Six Wards in Osaka City where the extent of land price decline was decreased for three consecutive years and in Tennoji ward, there emerged lands where land prices became level off.
③ in the Nagoya area,
	- In most areas the extent of land price decline increased, but in "Nishi Mikawa area" the extent of land price decline diminished and in Toyota City etc. there emerged lands which land prices leveled off.

(2) With regard to lands for commercial properties,

① In the Tokyo area,
	- In nearly all areas, the extent of the decline in land prices diminished. In the Central Wards Area in Tokyo, the extent of the decline has decreased for four consecutive years, and in nearly all wards the extent of the decline of land prices diminished. Particularly, in the Central Wards Area in Tokyo, there continuously observed many points of land where land prices leveled off or increased, and there were lands which enjoyed nearly 10% increase in land prices. Also in Shibuya ward the trend of leveled off has been stabilized. In the South West area there emerged points of land which land prices increased or leveled off in Ota ward and Shinagawa ward. In Tachikawa City and Musashino City, etc. there were also points of land where land prices leveled off.
② In the Osaka area,
	- The extent of land price decline diminished in more than half of the areas. Particularly, in the Central Six Wards in Osaka City, the extent of land price decline has diminished for three consecutive years, and became less than 10% decrease. In part of points of land in Osaka's high dense commercial areas there emerged points where land prices became level off.
③ In the Nagoya area,
	- In more than half areas, the extent of the land price decline diminished. In Nagoya City, at partial points of land in high dense commercial areas, land prices either continued to increase or level off.

2. Local Areas

As a whole, both for lands for residential properties and lands for commercial properties, the extent of land price decrease increased. In local cities with population of more than 100 thousand, there continued observed many cities where land prices decreased more than 10%.

With regard to factors affecting the above trends of land prices, it is pointed out as follows:

1. Three metropolitan areas;

(1) Lands for residential properties,
	- As background of the further diminish of the extent of land price decline in the Wards Areas in Tokyo, it is pointed out that the perception by potential purchasers of reasonable prices and increase of conveniences through redevelopment projects caused the continuous movement of people returning to central areas and steady demand for residential properties such as condominium apartments. Particularly, in the South West Wards Area, etc, the number of points of land in residential areas, which land prices increased or leveled off, increased. The features of these points were that locations were convenient and within surrounding areas where land prices increased or leveled off; - As background of further diminishing of the land price decline in the Central Six Wards in Osaka City, with the perception by potential buyers of reasonable prices, we have observed that there is a continuous movement of people returning to central areas, and that the demand for condominium apartments has been steady; and - In the suburbs, in remote areas where commuting to work is not easy, a steep decline in land prices has been continuously observed, mainly in areas which suffers from traffic-related inconveniences.

(2) Lands for commercial properties,
	- As background of diminishing of the land price decline in the three metropolitan areas, in addition to the partial recovery of economic activities in the first half of 2002, it is pointed out the ability to pull in customers improved through measures of urban renewal in dense commercial areas in the center of cities; - With regard to the Tokyo area, in the Central Wards Area in Tokyo, the number of points of land, where the land prices have increased or leveled off has continuously grown in the high dense commercial areas, in areas which have promoted new locations of overseas brand shops, and in areas where redevelopment or development of traffic infrastructure has been promoted. Among such areas, in areas where town character and attractiveness have enhanced, we observed a high increase of land prices. With regards to areas other than in wards area, in areas where the ability to pull in customers enhanced thorough the effects of urban renewals near railway stations, located at traffic nodes, there observed points of land where land prices became increase and continuously leveled off; - With regard to the Osaka area and Nagoya area, in high dense commercial areas in the Osaka area, points of land were observed where land prices became level off or continuously slightly declined in areas which improved the ability to pull in customers through redevelopment and new locations of overseas brand shops. In high dense commercial areas in the Nagoya area, points of land were observed where land prices continued to increase or level off in areas which improved the ability to pull in customers through redevelopment and new locations of overseas brand shops; and - Even the points of land are close each other, each point has different fluctuation, under different conditions such as the width of streets.

2. Local areas

(1)	With regard to the central cities in local regions (Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima and Fukuoka City), in commercial areas points of land were observed where land prices became level off or continuously slightly declined, through effects of redevelopment in dense commercial areas and near railway stations;
(2)	Also with regard to residential areas, points of land were observed where land prices increased or leveled off where demand for residential properties are high, particularly in central areas where enjoy convenient locations together with the perception by potential purchasers of reasonable prices. On the other hand, continued huge declines in land prices persisted in areas where convenience is inferior,
(3)	With regard to central commercial areas in local cities with the population of 100 thousand, under the situation of slowing down of the local economy, together with new locations of mass merchandising stores in suburban areas, there were many points of land where land prices largely declined due to the negative effects of withdrawals of large scale shopping facilities and closures of small retailers composing shopping arcades which used to play important roles in pulling in customers.

Chart 4-2-1 Residential Land Price Trends in the Three Metropolitan Areas

	Areas	published in 2001	published in 2002	published in 2003	annual change ratio in 2003
Tokyo area
	Central Wards Area	○	○	○	△ 1.1
	South West Wards Area	○	○	○	△ 1.5
	North East Wards Area	○	○	○	△ 3.1
	Tama Area	○	●	○	△ 6.3
	Yokohama City	○	●	○	△ 5.2
	Kawasaki City	○	●	○	△ 5.6
	Other Areas in Kanagawa Prefecture	○	●	●	△ 5.7
	Near Tokyo Area of Saitama Prefecture	○	○	●	△ 4.1
	Other Areas in Saitama Prefecture	○	●	○	△ 7.0
	Near Tokyo Area in Chiba Prefecture	○	●	○	△ 6.7
	Other Areas in Chiba Prefecture	□	○	○	△ 11.1
	Ibaraki Prefecture	●	●	●	△ 9.0
Osaka area
	Osaka City	●	●	○	△ 6.1
	North Osaka	●	●	●	△ 6.9
	East Osaka	●	●	●	△ 8.9
	South Osaka	●	●	●	△ 10.3
	Kobe City	●	●	○	△ 9.9
	Hanshin Area	●	●	□	△ 10.0
	Kyoto City	●	●	●	△ 7.7
	Other Areas in Kyoto Prefecture	●	●	●	△ 9.3
	Nara Prefecture	○	●	●	△ 8.1
Nagoya area
	Nagoya City	○	●	●	△ 7.2
	Areas Near Nagoya	●	●	●	△ 7.5
	Owari Area	○	●	●	△ 5.2
	Nishi Mikawa Area	●	●	○	△ 2.9
	Chita Area	○	●	●	△ 6.3
	Mie Prefecture	○	●	●	△ 2.6
Extent of land price decline increased		１１／２７	２２／２７	１４／２７
Extent of land price decline diminished		１５／２７	５／２７	１２／２７

Source:	"Published Land Prices" by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
Note1:	● represents extent of land price decline increased, ○ represents extent of land price decline diminished, □ represents same level of land price decline
Note2:	Prices are as of 1st January every year

Chart 4-2-2 Commercial Land Price Trends in the Three Metropolitan Areas

	Areas	published in 2001	published in 2002	published in 2003	annual change ratio in 2003
Tokyo area
	Central Wards Area	○	○	○	△ 3.6
	South West Wards Area	○	○	○	△ 2.2
	North East Wards Area	○	○	○	△ 4.2
	Tama Area	○	○	○	△ 6.2
	Yokohama City	○	○	○	△ 8.1
	Kawasaki City	○	●	○	△ 7.7
	Other Areas in Kanagawa Prefecture	○	●	○	△ 8.2
	Near Tokyo Area of Saitama Prefecture	○	○	○	△ 4.8
	Other Areas in Saitama Prefecture	○	○	○	△ 8.7
	Near Tokyo Area in Chiba Prefecture	○	○	○	△ 8.5
	Other Areas in Chiba Prefecture	○	○	○	△ 15.0
	Ibaraki Prefecture	●	□	●	△ 10.1
Osaka area
	Osaka City	○	○	○	△ 8.7
	North Osaka	●	○	○	△ 10.8
	East Osaka	○	●	○	△ 11.3
	South Osaka	●	●	○	△ 13.0
	Kobe City	●	●	○	△ 10.1
	Hanshin Area	●	●	●	△ 11.9
	Kyoto City	○	●	●	△ 9.9
	Other Areas in Kyoto Prefecture	○	□	●	△ 9.4
	Nara Prefecture	○	●	●	△ 10.3
Nagoya area
	Nagoya City	○	●	○	△ 8.3
	Areas Near Nagoya	○	●	●	△ 11.2
	Owari Area	○	●	●	△ 8.7
	Nishi Mikawa Area	●	●	○	△ 5.8
	Chita Area	○	●	●	△ 8.6
	Mie Prefecture	○	○	○	△ 6.9
Extent of land price decline increased		５／２７	１３／２７	８／２７
Extent of land price decline diminished		２１／２７	１２／２７	１９／２７

Source:	"Published Land Prices" by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
Note1:	● represents extent of land price decline increased, ○ represents extent of land price decline diminished, □ represents same level of land price decline
Note2:	Prices are as of 1st January every year