June housing starts down 1.2% for second consecutive fall

Japan's housing starts in June totaled 113,098 units, down 1.2 percent for the second consecutive year-on-year fall, the Construction Ministry said Monday.

For the first six months of this year, however, housing starts edged up 1.6 percent from the same period last year to 597,102 units, the ministry said.

The decrease in June housing starts was led by a 22.6 percent fall in starts of owner-occupied homes to 40,179 units for the fifth straight monthly decline.

Starts of homes for sale rose for the 12th straight month to 32,152 units in June, up 30.9 percent from the same month in 1999, while those of housing for rent came to 39,923 units, up 8.3 percent for the second consecutive year-to-year increase.

Housing starts climbed 11.4 percent in the Tokyo metropolitan area and 3.7 percent in the Kinki region centering on Osaka. However, starts contracted 5.2 percent in the Chubu region around Nagoya and 10.6 percent in other regions combined.