Japan's housing starts totaled 81,348 units in January, down 11.1 percent from a year earlier for the first downturn in four months, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said Wednesday.
A 39.4 percent plunge in starts for owner-occupied homes funded by the public Housing Loan Corp., caused partly by a half-year extension of tax breaks on loans, helped drag down the overall figure, a ministry official said.
Starts for all owner-occupied houses declined 16.5 percent to 27,847 units for the second successive monthly fall, although starts for the portion financed by private-sector loans rose 17.8 percent.
Starts for rental housing fell 8 percent for the first dip in three months to 28,981 units, while starts for houses to be put on sale were down 6.2 percent to 23,866 units after a 37.9 percent rise in December.
By region, housing starts were down 7.5 percent in the Tokyo metropolitan area, 14.6 percent in the Chubu region centering on Nagoya, 17.2 percent in the Kinki region surrounding Osaka, and 10.3 percent in other areas.