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Nomura Research Institute, or NRI, said on June 18th that Japan’s shrinking new-build housing market means improving the energy performance of brand-new homes alone will not be enough to meet the country’s long-term decarbonization targets. Photo by Joseph Chan on Unsplash In its report, Forecast of New Housing Starts for Fiscal 2026 to Fiscal 2040: New-Build ZEH Is the Starting Point, With Further Efforts Needed to Raise Existing Housing Stock Performance, NRI forecasts that

Mitsui Fudosan Residential will introduce full facial-recognition access at Park Homes Funabashi, marking the company’s first for-sale condominium where residents can enter the building, unlock their units, and collect deliveries without keys or smartphones. Park Homes Funabashi CG exterior rendering courtesy of the developer. The project will use FreeiD, a facial-recognition ID platform developed by DXYZ, a Tokyo-based group company of real estate developer Migalo Holdings.

The Nikkei Shimbun reported on June 16th that the Bank of Japan’s latest interest rate hike is expected to affect households differently depending on their savings, borrowing and age profile. According to an estimate cited by the Nikkei from Naoki Hattori, Chief Japan Economist at Mizuho Research Institute, the 0.25-percentage-point rate hike will have a positive annual effect of ¥1 trillion for households overall, or roughly ¥20,000 per household. MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui

Orders for building renovation and renewal projects in Japan climbed 18.7% year-on-year to JPY 16.4 trillion in FY2025, according to MLIT. The increase was driven by strong demand for repairs, refurbishments, and energy-efficiency upgrades. Photo by Renovations Certified on Unsplash Residential renovation orders increased 18.7% to JPY 4.9 trillion, while non-residential projects rose 18.6% to JPY 11.5 trillion, highlighting broad-based growth across the sector. FY2025 Renovat

In this June 10th CNBC Squawk Box Asia interview, Shinichiro Kadota, Barclays’ Head of Japan FX and Rates Strategy, explains why BOJ tightening alone may have limited impact, why inflation is likely to remain near 2%, and why Japan’s next meaningful defense of the yen may come from foreign exchange intervention rather than interest rates. Key Points: One of the most useful parts of the interview is Kadota’s breakdown of the yen’s fall from 100 to 160 against the dollar, separ