Japan Housing Starts Decline 5.3% In May

(RTTNews) - Japan's housing starts decreased less-than-expected in May after recovering sharply in the prior month, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism showed on Friday.

Housing starts dropped 5.3 percent year-on-year in May, reversing a 13.9 percent surge in April. Economists had expected a decrease of 6.1 percent.

Data showed that new construction was contracted in all categories, namely owned, rented, issued, and built for sale.

The seasonally adjusted annualized number of housing starts declined to 813,000 in May from 880,000 in the previous month.

Data also showed that construction orders received by the big 50 contractors rose 2.1 percent annually in May, though much slower than the 26.4 percent growth a month ago.