The Research Institute of Construction and Economy and Economic Research Association published on Oct. 21 the forecast of construction investment in 2014, showing drop by 2.3% from the previous fiscal year to approx. 47.8 trillion yen. The decrease results from large amount of public constructions in FY2013 which were funded by FY2012 supplemental budget of 5.4 trillion yen, but the outlook exceeds 2012 investment (44.9 trillion yen), the report noted. If the government implements economic initiatives at the cost of 5 trillion yen ahead of the consumption tax increase in April 2014, reactionary decrease after the last minute demand can be smaller than 1997 previous tax increase.

The quarterly outlook of construction investment, calculated by the original model, breaks down into public construction at 19.4 trillion yen down 7.8% from the previous year, private housing construction at 14.7 trillion yen down 1.5%, and private non-housing construction at 13.7 trillion by 5.6% up. (2013/10/22)