July housing starts totaled 101,696 units, down 0.8 percent for the third consecutive year-on-year fall, the Construction Ministry said Thursday.
The decrease was led by an 8.7 percent fall in starts of owner-occupied homes to 38,419 units -- the sixth straight monthly decline.
Rental housing starts also fell 10.8 percent to 32,773 units, the first year-to-year drop in three months.
Starts of homes for sale rose for the 13th straight month to 29,548 units, up 31.4 percent from the same month last year. Of these, condominiums were particularly strong, rising 41.1 percent to 18,466 units for the 13th consecutive monthly gain.
Housing starts fell 1.5 percent in the Tokyo metropolitan area and 2.6 percent in the Chubu region. However, starts climbed 7.6 percent in the Kinki region and contracted 3.1 percent in all other regions combined.