Japanese commercial land prices fell to the lowest in at least 36 years as developers faced tighter credit markets and the recession discouraged buyers.

Prices declined 6.1% in 2009, more than the 4.7% drop a year earlier, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said in a report released today. Values are at their lowest since the ministry began collecting comparable data in 1974.

The decline in commercial prices, which are about a third of what they were in 1991 after Japan’s bubble economy peaked, may slow as the nation recovers from recession. Acquisitions by listed property trusts surged 18-fold to 66.4bn yen ($735m) in the three months ended December from the previous quarter, according to Urban Research Institute Corp.

bloomberg.com