JAPAN

Land Prices Fall For First Time Since 1974: Land prices fell in 1991 for the first time in 17 years but are still high enough to put home ownership out of the reach of many workers, the government said. The National Land Agency said in its annual report that residential land prices declined 5.6% last year after a 2.7% rise in 1990. It was the first drop since 1974, when real estate deals slowed after a worldwide oil price shock. The 1991 decline was most noticeable in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, where prices fell to between 30% and 40% below their peak, the agency said.