Housing starts totaled 100,276 units across the country in April, up 1.4 percent from a year earlier for the first year-on-year rise in six months, the government said Friday.
The rise was attributable to increases in homes for rent and ready-made homes for sale, despite a decline in owner-occupied housing, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said.
Starts of owner-occupied houses decreased 6.4 percent to 33,804 units, marking the 11th straight month of decline.
Starts of homes for sale rose 12.2 percent to 28,226 units, up for the first time in six months. The total included 17,756 condominiums, up 11.5 percent and the first rise in six months.
Starts of homes for rent rose 0.9 percent to 37,325 units, up for the fourth straight month.
Housing starts increased 15 percent in the Tokyo metropolitan area but decreased 2.4 percent in the Chubu region, centering on Nagoya, and fell 6.2 percent in the Kinki region, including Osaka and Kyoto. Starts in other regions declined 3.9 percent.