Japan housing starts fall for third straight year in 2025

Adam German
12 hours ago
2 min read

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) announced on January 30th updated 2025 full-year and December 2025 monthly housing starts statistics.

The number of housing starts nationwide in 2025 totaled 740,667 units, down 6.5%, marking the third consecutive annual decline. Total floor area of housing starts fell 6.6% to 56.89 million square meters, extending its decline to a fourth straight year.

Breakdown by Ownership Type

By category, all segments recorded year-on-year declines:

Custom Built Single-Family Home (SFH) Starts: 201,285 units (-7.7%), down for the fourth consecutive year
Rental housing: 324,991 units (-5.0%), down for the third straight year
Strata-Title Housing: 208,169 units (-7.6%), also down for the third consecutive year

Within the strata-title segment:

Condominiums: 89,888 units (-12.2%)
Subdivided SFH: 115,935 units (-4.3%)

Housing Starts in Japan Major Metropolitan Areas

Across Japan’s three major metropolitan regions:

Greater Tokyo Area: 268,730 units (-5.9%)

Custom Built SFH Starts: 42,915 (-7.2%)
Rental housing: 130,927 (-0.9%)
Strata-Title Housing: 93,478 (-11.5%)

Greater Nagoya (Chubu) Region: 85,056 units (-7.1%)

Custom Built SFH Starts: 31,313 (-5.9%)
Rental housing: 29,952 (-4.0%)
Strata-Title Housing: 23,286 (-9.9%)

Greater Osaka (Kansai) Region: 130,020 units (-1.6%)

Custom Built SFH Starts: 27,490 (-5.6%)
Rental housing: 61,723 (-0.2%)
Strata-Title Housing: 40,075 (-0.9%)

December 2025 Results

In December alone, housing starts totaled 62,118 units, down 1.3% year on year (YoY), marking a second consecutive monthly YoY decline.

All percentages detailed below refer to YoY changes, or in other words, percentage changes compared to the same month in the previous year.

Photo by taro ohtani on Unsplash

Floor area also fell for the second straight month, down 0.3% to 4.88 million square meters.

However, the seasonally adjusted annualized rate rose 7.3% month on month to 771,000 units, continuing the increase seen in November.

Seasonally adjusted figures remove recurring calendar effects such as weather and fiscal-year timing, allowing for a clearer comparison of month-to-month trends.

December Breakdown by Category:

Custom Built SFH Starts: 17,496 units (-1.8%), down for the ninth consecutive month
Rental housing: 25,518 units (-3.4%), down for the second straight month
Strata-Title Housing: 18,522 units (+1.9%), returning to growth after a decline in November

Within strata-title housing: