Daiwa House Industry Co., Japan's biggest home builder, said it may sell some houses and apartments at a loss to lure buyers as the recession threatens to prolong the country's longest housing slump.

Daiwa House has cut prices for some apartments by as much as 20 percent, Tetsuji Ogawa, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a recent interview. The Osaka-based company is also reducing land purchases by about two-thirds for the six months through March from a year earlier.

"We have to sell at a loss in some cases," Ogawa said. "If we don't generate cash flow, we won't be able to make new investments."