What is the construction cost of office buildings in Japan in terms of unit price per square meter?
In this issue of the “Special Report on Construction Costs per Square Meter,” we will introduce the construction costs of office buildings in Japan in 2020 by focusing on the unit price per square meter.
The unit price per square meter for office buildings by structure was approximately JPY 323,000 per square meter for steel structures.
First, a look at the construction cost of offices nationwide in 2020 by structure shows that the highest unit cost per square meter was JPY 380,000 per square meter for steel reinforced concrete structures. This was followed by reinforced concrete and steel structures at JPY 379,000 per square meter and JPY 323,000 per square meter, respectively. On the other hand, the unit price per square meter for wood structures was JPY 175,000 per square meter and was the lowest among the four types of structures discussed here. (See figure below)
In the above figure, the average unit price per square meter of all structures is JPY 320,000 per square meter, which is very close to the cost of steel structures. This is probably due to the fact that more than 70% of office buildings in Japan are constructed as steel structures. (See figure below)
Tokyo had the highest unit price per square meter of office buildings by prefecture, followed by Nara.
Looking at the construction cost of office buildings by prefecture for general steel structures in 2020 shows the highest was JPY 438,000 per square meter in Tokyo, followed by JPY 402,000 per square meter in Nara, JPY 386,000 per square meter in Toyama, and JPY 379,000 per square meter in Kanagawa. This suggests construction costs in Tokyo are exceptionally high. On the other hand, the lowest unit price per square meter was JPY 182,000 in Iwate, followed by JPY 190,000 in Wakayama and JPY 199,000 in Mie. (See figure below)
Office building construction costs in Tokyo and nationwide are set to decline.
(1) Construction costs in Tokyo have shifted to a decline, falling to JPY 438,000 per square meter.
Looking at construction costs for office buildings in Tokyo from 2011 to 2020, there was an 11% increase from JPY 268,000 per square meter in 2012, when it bottomed out, to JPY 298,000 per square meter in 2013. Then, it continued on an upward trend from JPY 297,000 in 2014 to JPY 444,000 per square meter in 2017, rising by more than 50% in three years, but falling to a level of JPY 405,000 per square meter in 2018. After that, the trend turned upward in 2019 and reached a record high of JPY 456,000 per square meter. However, in 2020, it fell again to JPY 438,000 per square meter. (See figure below)
(2) Construction costs nationwide fall once again to JPY 323,000 per square meter.
Similarly, when we look at construction costs for office buildings nationwide, we see that they have been on a continuous upward trend since 2012, when it bottomed out at JPY 199,000 per square meter, and have risen significantly by more than 50% over the past five years to JPY 314,000 per square meter in 2017. Then, after falling to JPY 296,000 per square meter in 2018, it rose to JPY 331,000 per square meter in 2019. However, it appears that costs have once again fallen to JPY 323,000 per square meter in 2020. (See Figure below)
In this issue of the “Special Report on Construction Costs per Square Meter,” we introduced construction costs per square meter for office buildings.
It is worth mentioning that acquiring construction costs using statistical data introduced in this column is suitable for grasping construction cost trends in a large market covering cities or the entire country, but is not as suitable for projects that are highly individualized or require high accuracy.
For more construction cost information, please click below.
- Construction cost for Apartment Complexes
- Construction cost for Detached Residences
- Construction cost for Rental Apartments
- Construction cost for Shared Residences
- Construction cost for Residences
- Construction cost for Office Buildings
- Construction cost for Factories
- Construction cost for Warehouses
- Construction cost for Commercial Stores
- Construction cost for Hotels
- Construction cost for Hospitals
- Construction cost for Welfare and Nursing Care Facilities
- Construction cost for Schools
Reference｜Data List
Construction Costs Per Square Meter in Japan｜Steel Structure Office Buildings
| Prefectures in Japan | Construction Costs (Unit : Thousand yen per square meter) |
|---|---|
| Tokyo | 438 |
| Nara | 402 |
| Toyama | 386 |
| Kanagawa | 379 |
| Osaka | 362 |
| Kagawa | 334 |
| Aomori | 321 |
| Fukuoka | 301 |
| Kochi | 300 |
| Yamagata | 294 |
| Aichi | 292 |
| Hokkaido | 287 |
| Shimane | 287 |
| Tottori | 276 |
| Kyoto | 275 |
| Nagasaki | 275 |
| Fukui | 275 |
| Hyogo | 273 |
| Saitama | 262 |
| Yamaguchi | 261 |
| Nagano | 261 |
| Hiroshima | 256 |
| Fukushima | 254 |
| Okayama | 254 |
| Okinawa | 252 |
| Shizuoka | 250 |
| Miyazaki | 245 |
| Ishikawa | 244 |
| Tochigi | 241 |
| Miyagi | 240 |
| Gunma | 239 |
| Ehime | 238 |
| Shiga | 238 |
| Yamanashi | 231 |
| Akita | 231 |
| Kagoshima | 227 |
| Niigata | 227 |
| Saga | 224 |
| Ibaraki | 217 |
| Gifu | 210 |
| Kumamoto | 210 |
| Oita | 206 |
| Chiba | 204 |
| Tokushima | 199 |
| Mie | 199 |
| Wakayama | 190 |
| Iwate | 182 |
| Nationwide | 323 |
Source: Compiled based on the Statistical Survey of Building Starts (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) (as of 2020)
Comment