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

Abstract.

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.