Total new housing starts in Japan for April were 82,389 units, a 9 per cent increase over April 2015, and an 8.9 per cent improvement over March this year, according to the Japan Lumber Reports Friday.
As well, the 2015 Forestry White Paper has been submitted to the Diet, disclosing Japan’s current degree of wood self-sufficiency at 31.2 per cent, from the 30 per cent it has been for the past 26 years.
Japan Housing Starts: April 2016
Total new housing starts in Japan for April were 82,389 units, a 9 per cent increase over April 2015, and an 8.9 per cent improvement, or 6,654 units, over March this year, according to the Japan Lumber Reports Friday.
This is the fourth straight month of gains since last August.
Building of new units for owners also increased, by about 1,000 units or 8.1 per cent, which is four straight months of increases.
New building of wood-based units were 44,091, a 7.1 per cent increase and also four straight months of gains.
The driving force of new construction was rental units, with the monthly average in 1Q 2016 of 29,200 units.