Japanese house construction changes in 2011Thursday 22 Dec 2011 New residential housing starts have steadily eroded in Japan due to demographics and the real estate market, moving from 1.3 million in 2006 to only 788,000 in 2009 (-40%). In 2010, housing starts rebounded to 813,000 units. Now, with the rebuilding from the earthquake/tsunami, housing starts will likely be slightly higher in 2011, and closer to 850,000 units in 2012. Japanese imports of lumber have declined steadily — from a peak of 12.6 million m3 in 1997 to 5.8 million m3 in 2009 (-54%), but were higher in 2010 (6.6 million m3), with 2011 expected to be about 10% higher.All major supplying regions (North America, Europe, Chile, New Zealand and Russia) have increased softwood lumber exports to Japan in 2011. The consensus seems to be that short-term demand for softwood lumber (and house construction) may not increase until after the wreckage of towns and cities is cleaned up and a rebuilding strategy is developed. Some of the initial increased demand for lumber was for temporary housing shelters in the three prefectures most affected by the earthquake/tsunami. Source: International Wood Markets Group, www.woodmarkets.com |
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