Note 1-65

(65) The increase in the number of households headed by baby boomers and the slowdown in the growth of vacant houses are believed to have been mainly supporting demand for houses for rent. In fact, although starts of owned houses have been sluggish, starts of houses for rent have been picking up since FY2001, supported also by the progress in stock adjustment. According to the MRD Rental Market Survey, although the residential rental market (Tokyo metropolitan area; family-type houses) still has more houses than demand can absorb, the feeling of excess supply has been on a decreasing trend, suggesting that quantitative stock adjustment has been progressing.