July 2021 Japan Housing Starts
July total housing starts jumped 9.9% to 77,182 units, marking the 5th consecutive monthly increase.
Owner occupied housing continued to lead the gains, increasing 14.8% compared to a 5.5% increase in rental housing. Wooden housing advanced 10.4% to 44,659 units. Post and beam starts increased 12.2% to 35,535 units. Wooden pre-fab starts fell 13.6% to 816 units but total pre-fab housing was up 12.6% to 10,875 units. Platform frame starts increased 6.% to 8,308 units. Results of 2×4 starts by housing type were as follows: single family custom homes increased 22.7% to 2,963 units, rental housing declined 1.4% to 4,314 units and built for sale spec housing fell 4.3% to 1,000 units. As we saw increased relative strength in wooden single family homes versus multi-family rentals, average floor area grew 2%.
July 2021 Non-Residential Construction
July non-residential starts totaled 4,145 units for a floor area of 3.2 million m2. July year to date total non-residential floor area advanced 6.3% to 22.1 million m2. July wooden non-residential starts totaled 1,564 units for a floor area of 295,116m2. Year to date non-residential wooden floor area is up 6.7% to 1.9 million m2. Elderly and medical care, agricultural, business and mixed residential commercial buildings continue led the rankings for wood use.