Japan Housing Starts Fall More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - Japan's housing starts decreased for the ninth straight month in January, and at a faster-than-expected pace, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism showed on Friday.

Housing starts dropped 4.6 percent year-on-year in January, faster than the 2.5 percent fall in the previous month. Economists had expected a decrease of 2.6 percent.

Data showed that new construction was contracted sharply by 8.6 percent in the owned segment, and declines were seen in rented, issued, and built-for-sale categories.

The seasonally adjusted annualized number of housing starts decreased to 774,000 in January from 783,000 in December.

Data also showed that construction orders received by the big 50 contractors grew 12.2 percent annually in January, following an 8.1 percent rebound a month ago.