Japan new housing starts drop sharply in May 2025 for second straight month

On June 30th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism reported that new housing starts in May 2025 totaled 43,237 units, down 34.4% year-on-year (YoY). Floor area also fell 35.9% YoY to 3.333 million square meters.

All indicators declined YoY for the second straight month.

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Nationwide Starts Broken Down by Housing Type

• Custom homes: 11,920 units (-30.9% YoY)

• Rental homes: 18,893 units (-30.5%)

• Strata - Title SFH & Condos: 11,924 units (-43.8%)

  • ...of which:

    • Condominiums: 4,778 units (-56.5%)

    • Single-family homes (SFH): 7,083 units (-29.9%)

Regional Breakdown Across Japan’s Major Metro Areas

Greater Tokyo Area:

• Total: 16,902 units (-31.5% YoY)

• Custom: 2,601 (-26.5%)

• Rental: 9,017 (-11.6%)

• Strata - Title SFH & Condos: 5,243 (-51.5%)

Chubu (Greater Nagoya) Region:

• Total: 5,566 units (-22.3% YoY)

• Custom: 2,034 (-22.7%)

• Rental: 2,260 (-4.3%)

• Strata - Title SFH & Condos: 1,255 (-41.7%)

Kinki (Greater Osaka) Region:

• Total: 7,132 units (-36.0%YoY)

• Custom: 1,679 (-22.9%)

• Rental: 2,556 (-51.2%)

• Strata - Title SFH & Condos: 2,622 (-29.2%)

Wix AI generated image using the prompt "Japanese modern construction site with builders." using a Background filter. All rights reserved.

Further Reading:

E-Stat Portal Site May 2025 Starts (Japanese only; offering more granular data than outlined above.) 

Source: 

R.E. Port News (Japanese only)