In Japan, "land" has been regarded as a risk free asset whose price never falls. Land, when considered as an asset, has the unique characteristic of having an implicitly attached "option". This option is considered to play an important role in determining the land price movements in Japan. In Asian countries where people seen to have a similar concept of land, such option mechanism may also take place in their land price formation. On the contrary, in countries other than Asia where the use of land is considered more important than its ownership, a different type of price movement may be seen. Based on these premises, this paper empirically investigates the similarities of land price movements in East Asia countries.
