Housing starts in Japan fell for the eighth straight month, declining 2.6% year over year to 69,071 in February after a 13.2% decrease in January.

Construction of privately owned houses decreased 6.1% year over year to 20,013 in the month following a 0.1% rise in the previous month.

Built-for-sale house starts rose 3.4% to 19,023 after sinking 27.5% in the prior month.