Japan Housing Starts Fall the Most in 10 Months

2026-04-30 05:07 By Farida Husna 1 min. read

Japan’s housing starts plunged 29.3% yoy in March 2026, worsening from a 4.9% decline in the previous month and underperforming market expectations for a 28.5% fall.

This marked the fifth straight month of contraction and the steepest decline since May 2025, highlighting persistent weakness in the property sector amid higher construction costs and weak demand.

Declines were broad-based across all segments, including rental housing (-35.2% vs -2.7% in February), owner-occupied homes (-27.4% vs -4.7%), built-for-sale housing (-21.7% vs -8.8%), prefabricated housing (-4.7% vs -2.2%), and two-by-four homes (-28.4% vs -7.7%).



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Japan Housing Starts Fall the Most in 10 Months
Japan’s housing starts plunged 29.3% yoy in March 2026, worsening from a 4.9% decline in the previous month and underperforming market expectations for a 28.5% fall. This marked the fifth straight month of contraction and the steepest decline since May 2025, highlighting persistent weakness in the property sector amid higher construction costs and weak demand. Declines were broad-based across all segments, including rental housing (-35.2% vs -2.7% in February), owner-occupied homes (-27.4% vs -4.7%), built-for-sale housing (-21.7% vs -8.8%), prefabricated housing (-4.7% vs -2.2%), and two-by-four homes (-28.4% vs -7.7%).
2026-04-30
Japan Housing Starts Drop the Most in 3 Months
Japan’s housing starts fell 4.9% yoy in February 2026, worsening from a 0.4% decline in the previous month and slightly missing market expectations for a 4.7% drop. This marked the fourth straight month of contraction and the steepest decline since last November, pointing to sustained weakness in the property sector amid higher construction costs and soft demand. Declines were broad-based across all segments, including rental housing (-2.7% vs -1.5% in January), owner-occupied homes (-4.7% vs 6.6%), built-for-sale housing (-8.8% vs -4.8%), prefabricated housing (-2.2% vs 5.1%), and two-by-four homes (-7.7% vs 8.7%).
2026-03-31
Japan Housing Starts Drop Less than Estimated
Japan’s housing starts fell 0.4% yoy in January 2026, easing from a 1.3% drop in the previous month and beating market expectations of a 1.6% decline. It marked the third consecutive month of contraction, though the pace was the mildest since July 2024. Rental housing starts declined at a slower rate (-1.5% vs -3.4% in December). Meanwhile, owner-occupied homes rebounded (6.6% vs -1.8%), as did prefabricated housing (5.1% vs -6.1%). Starts for two-by-four homes also accelerated (8.7% vs 2.8%). In contrast, built-for-sale housing fell 4.8%, reversing a 1.9% increase in December.
2026-02-27