Japan housing starts fall 35 percent in October on tighter building rules |
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Fri, 30 Nov 2007 06:07
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TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Housing starts in Japan fell 35 percent to 76,920 units in October from a year earlier as theindustry continues to reel from tighter safety rules introduced in June, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport showed Friday.The fall was slightly smaller than the 36.3 percent decline projected by economists. Housing starts dropped 44.0 percent, 43.3 percent and 23.4 percent in September, August and July, respectively.The revised Construction Standard Law has made the certification of building blueprints stricter, following revelations that lax screening procedures have made it possible for construction plans with fake anti-seismic data to be approved.The annualized rate of housing starts recovered to 851,000 units in October from 720,000 in September and 729,000 in August.Last month, starts on houses for rent fell 42 percent from a year earlier to 31,706 units, down for the fourth straight month.Starts on owner-occupied houses fell 8.0 percent to 27,724, down for the ninth consecutive months, while starts on condominiums dropped 50.2 percent to 17,037, the fourth straight monthly fall.(1 US dollar = 110.36 yen)yasuhiko.seki@thomson.comkaori.kaneko@thomson.comyas/msCOPYRIGHTCopyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
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Japan housing starts fall 44 percent in September on tighter safety rules 