Hamamatsu City is an ordinance-designated city located in the western part of Shizuoka Prefecture and has a population of approximately 800,000 residents. It is blessed with natural environments such as seas, rivers, lakes, and mountains, and is called a “national miniature city” due to the diversity of coastal areas, urban areas, and mountainous regions.
Also, it is known as one of Japan's leading manufacturing cities, and the “Yaramaika spirit” of boldly challenging anything has taken root and created numerous industries, and it is a technology agglomeration city where many companies have developed and accumulated according to the times with the cotton textile and lumber industry from the Edo period, textiles, musical instruments, and transportation equipment called the three major modern industries, and advanced technology industries related to optical technology and electronic technology in recent years. For Hamamatsu City, I investigated land price trends over the past 20 years in residential areas in urban areas.
Residential areas in Hamamatsu City are broadly divided into the Yamate region (northwestern part) where many educational facilities are located, the area on the Mikatahara Plateau (northern part), the old town area (northeastern part) that stretches along the private railway Enshu Railway line, the Tenryu River coastal area (east), and the Pacific coast area (southern part). The most expensive is the location in Yamate Town, which is located in the Yamate region, and the land price for 2023 is 550,000 yen per square meter. The lowest price is in Tsurumi-cho, which is located in the Tenryu River coastal area, and the land price for 2023 is 170,000 yen per tsubo. Now, when the land price announcement results of 2003 and 2023 were compared and investigated, the top 5 points of increase in 20 years were all points in the Yamate region (Ohiradai, Hirosawa, Yamate, Tsuchizuka, Sanarudai), and there was a land price increase of about 25% over 20 years at the Ohiradai point.
Meanwhile, the top 5 falling points are the Tenryu River and Pacific coastal area points (Tsurumi, Uriuchi, Higashiwakabayashi, Sanno, Hongo), and land prices fell by about 25% over 20 years at the Tsurumi town point. When the survey results were synthesized, it was found that land prices remained steady in mountainous regions, starting with the Yamate area, and in areas of old towns close to the center, and land prices remained soft in the Tenryu River and Pacific coastal regions.
Amid heightened awareness of disasters after the Great East Japan Earthquake, a trend of polarization in land prices has been pointed out nationwide, and the results were similar in Hamamatsu City. A large-scale seawall (Ichijo dike) was completed along the Pacific coast in Reiwa 2, and it is said that it has the effect of reducing the flooded area of residential land by about 80%, and it is expected that demand for housing in coastal areas will pick up as a result.
On the other hand, it was surprising that there are places where land prices have risen by 20% or more. Demand for housing in coastal areas is flowing inland, but it was not anticipated that it would rise so strongly. All of the places that have shown a big rise this time are locations in Naka Ward close to the city center, but I hope it will spread to the suburban Hamakita district, etc. where large-scale development projects are planned in the future.
Reprinted from “Weekly Building Management” by Building Management Institute Co., Ltd. (with permission)
