On January 31, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism announced that housing starts in December were 89,578 units, up 18 per cent compared with the same month in 2013, exceeding the result in a year ago for 16 months, according to Japan Lumber Journal.
The seasonally-adjusted annual rate was 1,055,000 units, recording the one-million-unit mark for the fourth consecutive month. The floor space of the housing starts increased for 16 months in a row to 7,788,000 square metres, up 17.1 per cent. Accordingly total housing starts for 2013 amounted to 980,025 units, up 11 per cent from the previous year, the second largest level next to the 1,093,000 units in 2008.
Japan Housing Starts
A total of 354,772 units for owner-occupied houses was started in Japan in December, up 13.9 per cent from the previous year, 356,263 units for rental houses -up 11.8 per cent-, and 263,931 units for built- for-sale houses, up 6.9 per cent, said Japan Lumber Journal.
By construction method, annual housing starts of prefabricated houses were 146,402 units, up 10.7 per cent from the previous year, and those of two- by-four houses were 120,111 units, up 11.7 per cent, both of which recorded the highest ever. The share of two- by-four houses in the total housing starts was 12.3 per cent.
By structure, those of wooden houses were 549,971 units, up 13 per cent from the previous year, whereas the non-wooden found 430,054 units, up 8.6per cent. The ratio of wooden houses was 56.1 per cent, up 1 point from the previous year.