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theregus.com
Japan's residential land demand to drop by one-third by 2010
Demand for new residential land in Japan will shrink by one third in less than a decade, forcing the government to curb housing development to prevent land prices from falling.
The steep decline would stem from a falling birth rate, which would lead to a lower number of households, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said, quoting a ministry survey compiled every five years.
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport, in its latest study, said it expects supply will match demand in the five fiscal years ending in March 2006, the economic daily said.
Demand would then fall to 27,000 hectares (66,690 acres) in fiscal 2006-2010, only two thirds of the level for the preceding five years, falling short of supply and creating a glut of 10,000 hectares, it said.
The ministry aims to shift its policy from promoting, to curbing housing land development in a bid to prevent already-weak land prices from falling further by improving a supply-demand balance, it said.
The ministry has compiled estimates on residential-land supply and demand every five years since the 1980s. In previous surveys, demand had always outstripped supply, the newspaper said. |
