A Real Estate Plunge on Tokyo's Waterfront?

Developers in neighborhoods near Tokyo Bay, where apartments are often built on reclaimed land, are halting sales after Japan's earthquake in mid-March turned some of the landfill into mud, shattered pipes, and severed water lines. While most of Tokyo avoided major damage in the Mar. 11 quake because of stringent building codes, some bayside areas experienced liquefaction, a phenomenon in which violent shaking causes soil to fragment and lose its strength. That in turn allows water to well up and create a quicksand-like mess. The most affected suburb was Urayasu, one of only three residential areas in greater Tokyo where land prices rose last year and the home of the Tokyo Disneyland resort.

Tokyo Bay neighborhoods, some of which sit on about 24,955 hectares (61,665 acres) of reclaimed land in the area, are sought after for their ocean views and their proximity to central Tokyo. In a city where a survey by national broadcaster NHK estimates the average commute is 49 minutes, bayside commuters enjoy travel times of less than half an hour.