Japan's housing starts increased less than expected in September, while consumer confidence weakened in October, official data showed on Monday.
Housing starts rose 1.0 percent year-on-year in September, after a 4.6 percent increase in August, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism revealed.
Economists had forecast an annual growth of 2.3 percent.
The seasonally adjusted annualized housing starts declined to 857,000 in September from 903,000 in the previous month.
Data also showed that construction orders received by big 50 contractors surged 36.6 percent yearly in September, following a 17.9 percent rise in August.
The seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index weakened to 29.9 in October from 30.8 in September, data from the Cabinet Office revealed.
Among the four sub-indexes, the index reflecting overall livelihood fell to 27.3 in October, and the measure for income growth decreased to 35.3.
The index for employment dropped to 34.3 and the measure for households' willingness to buy durable consumer goods declined to 22.5.
The latest survey was conducted on October 15, covering 8,400 households.
