According to a report released by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on October 31st, Japan’s housing starts in September were 85,622 units (up 10 per cent from the same month in the previous year), surpassing the previous year’s results for three consecutive months, said the Japan Lumber Journal Thursday. When compared to the previous month, the results increased by 4.1 percent, and the seasonally-adjusted annual rate was 984,000 units (up 3 percent from the previous month).
Looking at the results of September by owner/occupant, despite the tailwind of low-rate home loan, housing starts of owner occupied houses were 25,573 units (up 1.4 percent from the same month of the previous year). This figure was somewhat below expectation. In contrast, housing starts of built-for-sale houses were 21,339 units (up 17 percent), marking a large increase. Of the built-for-sale houses, condominiums were 9,502 units (up 23 percent) and single family houses were 11,600 units (up 12.1 percent). Both of them showed favorable results. However, sales of condominiums remained sluggish due to continuing high price, so this is a concern. Housing starts of rental houses were 38,400 units (up 12.6 percent), increasing for eleven consecutive months, backed by such factors as inheritance tax reduction measures and low-interest rate policy.
By construction methods, housing starts of prefabricated houses were 13,680 units (up 13.9 percent), increasing for four consecutive months and recovering from its slow start in the first half of this year. Those of two- by-four houses were 11,747 units (up 10.9 percent), remaining above 10,000 units for four consecutive months owing to favorable rental houses.
By structure, housing starts of wooden houses were 49,733 units (up 10.1 percent), and the ratio of wooden houses by the number of units was 58.1 percent.
Total housing starts during January to September 2016 were 716,541 units (up 5.8 percent from the same period of the previous year), said the Japan Lumber Journal.