TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The average land price rose for the first time in 33 years in more than half of surveyed rural areas in Japan, government data showed Tuesday, as the nation's economic recovery extends to asset values.

Across Japan, land prices in all categories as well as prices for residential land and commercial land as of Jan. 1 increased for the fourth straight year on booming inbound tourism and firm housing demand sustained by low interest rates.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the average overall land prices nationwide climbed 2.7 percent from a year earlier.

"The upward trend is continuing as the economy moderately recovers," a ministry official said. "Investment demand for accommodation for foreigners and houses is also rising in tourist areas."

Land prices in more than half of the locations, excluding the metropolises of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and their surrounding areas, last rose in 1992, shortly after the period of the country's asset bubble. At that time, prices increased in 5,183 locations, or 63.5 percent of those surveyed, according to the data.

In the latest survey, the prices rose at 6,706 locations, or about 50 percent of the 13,405 assessed. Prices in all categories were up 1.3 percent, while those for residential land grew 1.0 percent and for commercial land were up 1.6 percent.

As for residential-use land, average prices nationwide, including Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, increased 2.1 percent, while they rose 3.9 percent for commercial-use land.

The upward trend has continued since 2022. Before that, prices were depressed by the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008, the 2011 earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan, and the COVID-19 pandemic which started in 2019.

In the three metropolitan areas, the average land price in all categories surged 4.3 percent, while it grew 3.3 percent for residential land and 7.1 percent for commercial land, surpassing the rate of increase from the previous year.

Prices for commercial land rose in 34 of the country's 47 prefectures, likely due to the impact of foreign tourists, the data showed.

Furano, a popular tourist destination in Hokkaido where foreigners buy vacation homes, recorded the steepest residential land price increase at 31.3 percent.

Another area in Hokkaido, Chitose, which has a booming semiconductor industry, saw the largest increase in commercial land prices at 48.8 percent.

Ishikawa Prefecture, meanwhile, suffered the sharpest fall due to the impact of a powerful earthquake that rattled the Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day in 2024.

By location, the main store of Yamano Music Co. in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district recorded the highest land price among the surveyed locations nationwide for the 19th straight year at 60.5 million yen ($407,000) per square meter, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier.