February 2025 Japan Housing Starts Report
After a dip in January, February total housing starts edged 2.4% higher to finish at 60,583 units. Wooden housing starts picked up 5.3% to end at 34,685 units. Post and beam starts increased 3.9% to 26,220 units. Total pre-fab starts fell 0.9% to 7,581 units. Buoyed by strength in multi-family, platform frame starts posted a not too shabby gain of 10.1% to 7,581 units. By housing type 2×4 custom ordered owner-occupied homes were up 5.3% to 2,317 units, rentals were up 14.4% to 4,563 units and built for sale spec homes increased 1.3% to 682 units.
February 2025 Non-Residential Construction
Non-Residential construction also picked up in February. Total non-residential starts increased 11.0% to 3,233 units with total floor area improving 8% to 2,679,148m2. Wooden non-residential starts increased 13% to 1,166 units and floor area increased 16% to 223,415m2. In order, the top five segments for wood use were: elderly, medical care and social welfare facilities, mixed residential and commercial buildings, business services, restaurants and accommodation, , business services and mining and infrastructure construction.