The number of Japanese homes built with post-and-beam construction is rising, but despite the growing share of wooden houses, the total number of new homes continues to fall. That is according to new data from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation, and Tourism, which revealed that housing starts fell a further 6.5% in 2025, extending a multi‑generational decline that has pushed new-builds to less than half the levels seen in the early to mid-1990s.
It revealed that Japan built just 740,667 homes last year, a 16% drop on the 10‑year average of 883,184 units. And while the proportion of wooden homes has surged, with five of the past six months recording 60% or more timber‑frame construction, total volumes of wooden houses still slipped 4% across the year.
And with the domestic market in decline, Japanese timber manufacturers, fabricators and foresters are looking offshore to fully commercialise their timber technologies. Speaking to Wood Central’s Jason Ross at last year’s Timber Construct conference in Melbourne, Yuichi Shinohara, managing director of the Shinohara Group, and Shingi Tarirah, the company’s structural coordinator, said Japan’s “click and set” prefabrication systems could help address Australia’s housing shortfall.
“Pre‑cut construction cuts manufacturing house frames from more than 40 days to just 1.5 days,” Shinohara said. “On‑site installers click 100 square metre houses into place like Ikea furniture, with all on‑site activity wrapped up in just two days.”
As one of Japan’s largest timber fabricators, which is responsible for fabricating 4,000 or more timber frames every year, Tarirah said the company’s patented pre‑cut technology is highly efficient and much safer than other methods. “We just need to find the right local supply partner to bring the technology to the Australian market,” Shinohara said.
- To explore Japan’s 2×4 “pre‑cut” model and whether it offers a viable solution for Australia, Wood Central has exclusive coverage from inside a Japanese “factory builder” last year.
