Japan’s Housing Starts Decline Further in February

According to data released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, Japan’s housing starts continued their decline in February. Year-over-year housing starts in Japan decreased -3.7% in February, exceeding the -3.1% drop in January but proving better than economist’s prediction of -4.8% for February. On an annual basis, Japanese housing starts increased to 808,000 in February up from 801,000 in January. After increasing 14.1% in January, orders received by Japan’s “big 50” contractors grew at a much slower pace of 2.5%. Nonetheless, it was the second consecutive monthly increase.