Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport data shows that units built for owners declined by 22.9 per cent, to 22,288 units, said Japan Lumber Reports.
These drops are influenced by Japan’s consumption tax increase in April 2013, the government agency said.
New construction of wood-based units in May dropped to 36,983, from 40,035 the previous month.
Housing Starts, Japan
Total housing starts in Japan for May were 67,791 units, a 15 per cent drop over May last year, according to Japan Lumber Reports Friday. May starts represented a drop of 7,495 units from April’s 75,286 new starts. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, starts dropped down to 872,000 units.