Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infra- structure, Transport and Tourism released Japan’s housing starts for August, which were 80,255 units (up 8.8 per cent from the same month in the previous year), said Japan Lumber Journal Thursday.
Owner-occupied and rental houses increased for four consecutive months, and built-for-sale houses turned to an increase from a decrease in the previous month. The number of housing starts surpassed previous year’s result for six months in a row.
By structure, housing starts of wooden houses were 45,140 units (up 11 per cent), marking a double digit increase on the back of the increase in housing starts of owner-occupied houses and rental houses. Non-wood-en houses were 35,115 units (up 6.1 per cent). The ratio of wooden houses by the number of units increased to 56.2 per cent, said the Journal.