Commercial land prices in Japan rose for the first time in 16 years, government data released yesterday showed. Financial Times

The strength of the recovery is demonstrated by two deals in Ginza, Tokyo’s luxury shopping district.

Toshiba said yesterday it was to sell its landmark building in Ginza to developer Tokyu Land, for Y161bn ($1.3bn).

This follows the sale by Tiffany of its Ginza property to Goldman Sachs last month for about Y38bn. Tiffany reportedly bought the property for about Y16.5bn in 2003.

The government data, covering the 12 months to the end of July, found that average commercial land prices rose 1%. Most of that rise was attributed to a surge in prices in the three largest cities: Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, which rose 10.4%.