June 2021 Japan Housing Starts
June 2021 Japan Housing Starts
Japan total housing starts posted the 4th consecutive monthly increase in June, rising 7.3% to 76,312 units. Owner occupied housing and rental housing rose 10.6% and 11.8% respectively. Total wooden housing began firing on all cylinders with an 11.1% increase to 45,750 units and total wooden floor area showed an impressive 23.2% jump. Post and beam starts were up 8.6% to 35,804 units. Wooden pre-fab starts advanced 10.6% to 1,058 units and total pre-fab housing was up 4.2% to 10,822 units. Platform frame starts jumped 22.1% to 8,888 units. Results of 2×4 starts by housing type were as follows: single-family custom homes increased 29% to 3,082 units, rental housing advanced 18.7% to 4,743 units and built for sale spec housing rose 16.3% to 1,037 units. Notably, as a percentage of all housing, wooden construction reached a 60% market share. To put this number in context, the average market share for wooden housing between 2000 and 20009 stood at around 46%. Between 2010 and 2019 the average increased to 56%. Wooden housing continues to gain ground as a measure of the overall housing market.
June 2021 Non-Residential Construction
Total June non-residential starts totaled 3,851 units with a total floor area of 3.5 million m2. Between January and June total non-residential starts increased 3.3% and wooden non-residential starts increased 3.4%. June YTD wooden non-residential floor area improved 8.7% to 1.62 million square meters. YTD non-residential wood use is estimated at 283,484m3. By building type, elderly and medical care, agricultural and mixed residential commercial buildings led the wooden non-residential segment.