Japan's housing starts decreased less-than-expected in February after recovering sharply in the previous month, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism showed on Friday.
Housing starts dropped 0.3 percent year-on-year in February, reversing a 6.6 percent gain in January, which was the fastest rate of growth since October 2021. Economists were looking for a decline of 0.5 percent.
The seasonally adjusted annualized housing starts fell to 859,000 in February from 893,000 in the previous month.
Data also showed that construction orders received by the big 50 contractors rebounded sharply by 22.3 percent yearly in February, after a 14.0 percent plunge in the prior month.
