Japan’s Top Cities Post First Land-Price Gains Since 2008

Land prices in Japan’s three largest metropolitan areas gained for the first time in six years amid efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to revive the world’s third-largest economy.

The value of land in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya was on average 0.7 percent higher as of Jan. 1 from 12 months earlier, compared with a 0.6 percent decline in the previous year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said yesterday. The increase was the first since 2008 when prices rose 5.3 percent in those areas, the data showed.