After a weak start of the year, Japan's housing starts rose by 39.1% year-over-year in February 2025, sharply picking up from a 2.4% rise in the previous month and easily exceeding market forecasts of a 1.0% increase.

It marked the strongest pace of expansion since September 2008, amid broad-based rises in new dwelling for all components: owned (37.4% vs -0.2% in February), rented (50.6% vs 3.2%), issued (99.6% vs -40.4%), built-for-sale (22.8% vs 5.1%), prefabricated (9.9% vs -0.9%), and two-by-four (45.9% vs 10.1%).

Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan