A government advisory committee Friday unveiled a series of measures to bring down soaring land prices, including promoting the relocation of government offices outside of Tokyo and more underground and high-rise construction. A government report in April said land prices skyrocketed last year, with the most expensive real estate in central Tokyo valued at 34 million yen, or $272,000, per square meter, or more than $6.7 billion an acre. The medium- and long-term recommendations also include tax reform to encourage development of farmland within cities for housing and the use of taxes on idle land to promote construction of leisure facilities, said Tadashi Miyagawa of the Management and Coordination Agency. The panel is expected to present its plan to the new administrative reform committee on May 30 for further study. A final report will be presented to Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita in mid-June, Miyagawa said. The government is expected to decide soon after which measures it will take to bring down inflated land prices, he said. Politicians and consumer groups have called the land price problem the most urgent in Japanese society. Most young people have given up hopes of owning their own home.
