Japan's housing starts decreased more-than-expected in June after recovering in the previous month, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism showed on Monday.
Housing starts dropped 4.8 percent year-on-year in June, reversing a 3.5 percent rise in May, which was the first gain in four months. Meanwhile, economists had expected only a 0.2 percent fall.
Data showed that new construction was contracted in the categories of owned, rented, and built for sales.
The seasonally adjusted annualized number of housing starts declined to 811,000 in June from 862,000 in the previous month.
Data also showed that construction orders received by the big 50 contractors climbed 8.6 percent annually in June, faster than the 4.2 percent increase in the prior month.
