The space-time structure of land prices in Japanese metropolitan areas

This study aims to clarify the space-time nature of land price upheaval that Japanese metropolitan areas experienced in the late eighties. Long-term panel data of land prices for two major metropolitan areas were first compiled, based on the Public Notifications. The parameters of the cross-sectional land price functions calculated in the process suggest that the price formations in Osaka are approximately two to three years behind that in Tokyo. The space-time structure of land price changes within the Tokyo area was studied using one- and two-dimensional diffusion models, where monocentricity of fund supplies to the land market is assumed. It is concluded, regardless of dimensions, that heat conduction provides a good analogy for the space-time behavior of land market: diffusion coefficients suggest that the land price increase has propagated fastest towards north-north-east and south-south-west, and slowest along the orthogonal direction.The original version of this paper was read at the 42nd North American Meeting of RSAI, Cincinnati, 1995. The results are entirely revised reflecting the updated railroad network from 1985 to 90 and some corrections in land price data.Received: April 2001/Accepted: August 2003