2021.10.2906:38:00UTC+00Japan Housing Starts Falls; Consumer Confidence Improves

Japan's housing starts declined in September and consumer confidence improved in October, data showed on Friday.

Housing starts increased 4.3 percent year-on-year in September, following a 7.5 percent rise in August, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism revealed.

Economists had forecast an annual 7.5 percent rise.

Annualized housing starts decreased to 845,000 in September from 855,000 in the previous month.

Data also showed that construction orders received by big 50 contractors grew 27.3 percent on year in September, after a 2.0 percent decrease in August.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the consumer confidence index increased to 39.2 in October from 37.8 in September, the Cabinet Office revealed.

Among the four sub-indexes of the consumer confidence index, the index reflecting overall livelihood fell to 39.1 in October, while income growth increased to 39.1.

Households' willingness to buy durable consumer goods declined 37.7 and the index for employment increased to 41.0.

The latest survey was conducted on October 15 covering 8,400 households.