FX.co ★ Japan Housing Starts Fall 5.1%

Japan's housing starts declined for the fourth consecutive month in August, according to data released on Monday by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism.

In August, housing starts fell by 5.1% year over year, a sharper decline compared to the modest 0.2% decrease observed in the previous month. Economists had forecasted a 3.3% drop.

The data revealed that new construction activities contracted across all categories: owned, rented, issued, and built for sale properties.

Despite the overall decline, the seasonally adjusted annualized number of housing starts increased slightly to 777,000 in August, up from 773,000 in July.

Additionally, the data indicated that construction orders received by the top 50 contractors grew by 8.7% annually in August, following a substantial 62.8% increase in the prior month.