Japanese April Housing Starts Rise, Construction Orders Fall

(RTTNews) - Japan's housing starts grew 0.6% in April from the previous year, following a 2.4% fall in March, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport showed Monday. April's growth was significantly smaller than the expected 6.6% increase.

Annualized housing starts in April totaled seasonally adjusted 793,000 compared to 854,000 in March. The expected level was 840,000.

Construction orders received by big 50 contractors declined 25% in April, reversing a 42.3% rise in March. Orders for civil engineering works dipped 16.8% annually, larger than the 1.3% fall seen in March. At the same time, building construction orders were down 29.6% compared to 74.2% increase in the prior month.