TOKYO -- Popular tourist destinations helped lift Japan's official land prices by 1.2% as tracked on Jan. 1 for a fourth straight annual increase.
Commercial real estate prices nationwide gained 2.8%, beating the 1.9% increase the prior year, land ministry data released on Tuesday shows. The three major metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka jumped 5.1%, their greatest growth since the 2008 financial crisis. The value of all real estate nationwide returned to 40% of its peak before the country's property bubble burst in 1991.
