In May, Japan's house construction starts were 5.3% lower than in the same month last year. Overall, the new starts in the first five months were also below the same period last year.

According to the report by Japan's Ministry of Land and Infrastructure, Japan's housing starts declined by 5.3% year-on-year in May 2024, swinging from the strongest rise in almost nine years of 13.9% in the previous month while indicating the fourth time of drop so far this year. Still, figures came less than market forecasts of a 6.1% decrease. New dwellings fell across all categories: owned (-8.7% vs -3.9% in April), rented (-5.3% vs 20.6%), issued (-54.6% vs 331.5%), built-for-sale (-0.9% vs 16.5%), pre-fabricated (-18.1% vs -6.4%), and two-by-four (-3.0% vs 37.4%).

Japan increases lamellar wood imports
Japan's lamellar timber imports (glue lam and CLT) from January to May amounted to 271,000 m3. That was 19% more than in the same period last year.