Japan's housing starts decreased for the second straight month in December, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism showed on Friday.
Housing starts dropped 1.3 percent year-on-year in December, much slower than the 8.5 percent plunge in November. Economists had expected a decrease of 4.1 percent.
The data indicated a decrease in new construction across owned and rented categories, while increases were observed in built-for-sale and issued segments.
The seasonally adjusted annualized number of housing starts rose to 771,000 in December from 718,000 in November.
Data also showed that construction orders received by the big 50 contractors grew 20.2 percent annually in December, after a 9.5 percent rebound a month ago.