The number of housing starts last year was 819,623 units, lower than the previous year for the first time in three years. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism attributes this to factors such as rising prices of construction materials and reduced demand.
Of these, the number of "owner-owned" homes, which refers to custom-built homes, was 224,352, a decrease of 11.4% from previous year. The decline is likely due to a decline in demand, especially for single-family homes, as a result of rising sales prices.