Japanese housing starts decline for first time in eight months

Growth in the Japanese housing sector cooled down in October, official figures released on Monday showed.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, housing starts fell 2.5% year-on-year last month, marking their first decline in eight months and falling short of analysts’ expectations for a 2.6% gain.

In September, housing starts grew 2.6%, the slowest rate of growth since April.

Meanwhile, the number of annualised housing starts declined to 8620,000 in October from 900,000 in the previous month, falling short of the 905,000 reading analyst had expected.

The report added construction orders received by 50 big contractors plunged 25.2% year-on-year in October, compared with a 2.5% decline in September.