Housing starts in Japan declined by 7.1 percent year-on-year in August 2019, compared to the previous month's 4.1 percent drop and market consensus of a 6.1 percent fall, led by decreases in owned (-1.6 percent vs 3.3 percent in July), rented (-17.5 percent vs -15.2 percent), issued (-64.3 percent vs -43.3 percent), prefabricated (-5.3 percent vs 0.7 percent), and two-by-four (-12.5 percent vs -4.1 percent). On the other hand, new construction starts for built for sale grew faster (5.6 percent vs 5.1 percent), due to a sharp rebound in collective housing (11.1 percent vs -1.1 percent) and a further rise in detached houses (2.4 percent vs 8.9 percent). Housing Starts in Japan averaged 2.46 percent from 1961 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 67.63 percent in March of 1972 and a record low of -43.96 percent in September of 2007.