Japan Housing Starts Plunge 6.7% In June

(RTTNews) - Japan's housing starts declined sharply for the second straight month in June, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism showed on Wednesday.

Housing starts dropped 6.7 percent year-on-year in June, following a 5.2 percent fall in May. Economists had expected a decrease of 2.0 percent.

Data showed that new construction was contracted in almost all categories, namely owned, rented, and built for sale. Meanwhile, there was an increase in the issued category.

The seasonally adjusted annualized number of housing starts declined to 765,000 in June from 813,000 in the previous month.

Data also showed that construction orders received by the big 50 contractors slumped 19.7 percent annually in June, in contrast to 2.1 percent growth a month ago.