2023.12.2705:25:00UTC+00Japan Housing Starts Fall 8.5%, More Than Expected

Japan's housing starts decreased for the sixth straight month in November, and at a faster-than-expected pace, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism showed on Wednesday.

Housing starts dropped 8.5 percent year-on-year in November, which was worse than the 6.3 percent decline in October. Economists had expected a decrease of 4.3 percent.

Data showed that new construction was contracted in the majority of categories, including owned, rented, and built for scale.

The seasonally adjusted annualised number of housing starts fell to 775,000 in November from 808,000 in the previous month.

Data also showed that construction orders received by the big 50 contractors surged 33.6 percent annually in November, after a 4.2 percent rebound in the prior month.