Tokyo, Sept. 15 (Jiji Press)–Japanese land price data released Tuesday show cases in which municipalities that have attracted new residents through their child-rearing and relocation support programs enjoyed higher residential land prices. In areas along the Tsukuba Express, or TX, railway line, which provides access to Tokyo from the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of the capital, the population has been on the rise since the railway opened in 2005. One such area is the city of Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, which offers a pick-up service linking stations used by commuting parents with their children’s nursery schools. This has proved popular among families with young children. A surveyed site along the TX line in Nagareyama recorded an 18.7 pct increase in land prices, ranking ninth nationwide in terms of the year-on-year growth rate. In the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, the town of Higashikawa, which neighbors the regional hub city of Asahikawa, has attracted new residents through relocation subsidies, boosting housing demand. Land prices near the town hall climbed 15.5 pct from the previous year, the fourth-largest increase in the prefecture. Meanwhile, the Hokkaido city of Furano, internationally known for its ski resort, posted the highest growth in Japan, at 32 pct, topping the national ranking for the second consecutive year. The increase was supported by a rise in inbound tourism, growing demand for vacation homes and sustained housing demand from workers at the ski resort and hotels. The village of Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, also famous for its ski resorts, followed Furano, with two surveyed locations posting the second- and third-largest growth. A surveyed site in the city of Myoko, Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, where large-scale resort development backed by foreign capital is underway, ranked 10th. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
