New condominiums put up for sale in the greater Tokyo area in 2016 fell 11.6 percent from the previous year to 35,772 units, the lowest since 1992, just after the implosion of the bubble economy, a private think tank said. The drop, comprising units in the capital and the three neighboring prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama, came as demand for new condos declined and real estate firms faced difficulty selling new units due to price hikes caused by labor shortages, the Real Estate Economic Institute said Thursday.

The figure for sales contracts concluded was 68.8 percent of all units, marking the first time it has fallen below the boom-or-bust threshold of 70 percent since 2009, when Japan was reeling from the global financial turmoil caused by collapse of U.S. housing market. The average price for a unit declined 0.5 percent to ¥54.9 million last year, reflecting a drop in luxury condos caused by competition with hotels, an official said.

The official also cited real estate firms’ strategies of avoiding suburbs in favor of developments in select urban areas, as well as home buyers’ growing interest in renovating used houses as reasons for the slump.

The institute estimates the supply of new condos in 2017 will rise by 6.2 percent to 38,000 units, thanks to a gradual increase in the suburbs. In the Kinki region covering Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Nara, Shiga and Wakayama prefectures, the supply of new condos fell 1.3 percent to 18,676 units last year.