According to Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), as reported by Kensetsu Tsushin Shimbun (a Japanese construction industry newspaper) on July 8, 2026, new construction orders received by the country's 50 largest contractors fell 6,7% year-on-year in May, to a total of roughly 1 trillion yen. The monthly survey, known in Japan as the top-50 contractor order statistics, tracks contract intake at the largest builders and serves as a lead indicator for construction activity a few months ahead of actual starts.
The May reading follows a much steeper drop in April, when order value at the same 50 contractors fell 32,3% year-on-year to 1,4364 trillion yen. Large-scale domestic projects worth 1 billion yen or more accounted for 72,9% of the April total, at 177 contracts worth 1,04026 trillion yen, but that segment itself was down 45,8% from a year earlier.
The two consecutive monthly declines mark a reversal from the pace set over the full 2025 fiscal year, when order value at the top-50 contractors rose 12% to about 21 trillion yen, the highest level recorded since fiscal 1993. MLIT's monthly order data for May, covering the period through the end of that month, is the latest official reading available in the series.