Housing industry - 1000000000000000000000

Japanese: 住宅産業 - じゅうたくさんぎょう（英語表記）housing industry

It is a huge system industry that is centered around the residential construction industry, and includes the residential building materials industry which supplies parts and materials to the construction industry, the land development and real estate industry, the housing equipment industry which supplies fixtures and fittings, as well as a variety of service industries such as real estate transaction intermediation and procedural agency, housing finance and insurance, housing information (newspapers and magazines), and design and consulting.

[Shinichi Tonomura]

Industry size and characteristics

Investment in housing in fiscal 1983 was 14.78 trillion yen (5.3% of GNP for that year), but the size of the housing industry, which is said to generate indirect demand about 2.1 times the direct demand, was just over 31 trillion yen, surpassing the size of the automobile and home appliance industries and therefore often positioned as an important pillar of government economic stimulus measures. A characteristic of the housing industry is that despite its large market size, it has not become oligopolistic and there are many small-scale businesses with strong local ties. This is because housing production is extremely individual and difficult to standardize, product differentiation is significant, demand is strongly influenced by the external environment, and because production sites are decentralized and mobile, production organizations cannot be standardized, so mass production effects like factory production cannot be expected.

[Shinichi Tonomura]

From "building" to "buying" a house

Until the 1950s, house construction was carried out by a master carpenter or a small construction company, relying on the client's funds and using carpenters, scaffolders, roofers, joiners, and many other specialized craftsmen as sub-workers. The client "built the house." However, the industry structure changed significantly from the late 1950s. Rapid economic growth led to the concentration of population in large cities and the trend toward nuclear families, which caused a housing shortage and soaring land prices in large metropolitan areas. Housing development of suburban farmland and forests, construction of pre-built homes, and construction of high-rise condominiums (from ultra-luxury apartment complexes to mass-market condominiums) began in high-land-price areas in the city center. In addition to small-scale pre-built homes that had moved in from carpenters and construction companies, local construction companies and real estate agents also entered the market, but the role of large corporations such as real estate agents and trading companies affiliated with the former zaibatsu, electric railways, and banks as "developers" increased. The number of new housing starts, which was only 260,000 in 1955, continued to increase every year, reaching 1.2 million in 1968 and 1.91 million in 1973, ushering in an era of "buying a home." The custom of replacing one's home also took root. Another characteristic of the 1960s was the appearance of prefabricated housing manufacturers, who aimed to reduce costs by producing the structural parts of homes in factories and standardizing and mass-producing materials, thereby saving on labor costs and shortening construction times (industrializing the housing industry).

[Shinichi Tonomura]

From quantity to quality

The shift to a low-growth economy, triggered by the oil crisis in 1973, reduced the concentration of population in large cities, and, combined with the decline in the number of marriages since 1972 and the slowdown in the number of households, the housing shortage was quantitatively resolved. In 1983, the total number of houses (38.7 million) exceeded the total number of households (35.2 million) (vacancy rate of 8.6%), and the number of new housing starts has also remained stable. However, public dissatisfaction with housing has not been resolved, and there is a growing need for high-quality private rental housing, such as for extensions, renovations, and remodeling. Among new housing starts in 1984, there was an increase in rental housing, especially high-quality rental housing funded by private funds. Sales of high-quality prefabricated housing, which was made more luxurious by introducing new products and new technologies from housing equipment manufacturers and building material manufacturers, increased, reaching 13.3% of the number of new housing starts in 1983. The housing industry also entered an "era of quality." In addition to the development of three-generation homes and energy-efficient housing, there is also expected to be huge potential demand in the urban redevelopment movement known as the Urban Renaissance.

[Shinichi Tonomura]

"The Housing Industry" edited by Suzuki Hajime (Kyoikusha Shinsho)

[Reference] | Housing issues

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

住宅建築業を中心に、これに部材を供給する住宅建築材料産業、宅地開発・不動産業、器具備品を供給する住宅設備業のほか、不動産の取引仲介・手続代行、住宅金融・保険、住宅情報（新聞・雑誌）、設計・コンサルタントなどの各種サービス業を含む巨大システム産業である。

［殿村晋一］

産業の規模と特徴

1983年度（昭和58）の住宅投資は14兆7800億円（同年度GNPの5.3％）であるが、直接需要の2.1倍程度の間接需要を創出するといわれる住宅産業の規模は31兆円強ということになり、自動車産業や家電産業などをしのぐ規模をもつことから、政府の景気対策の重要な柱に据えられることが多い。住宅産業の特徴は、市場規模が大きなわりには寡占化が進まず、地域に密着した小規模業者が多いことである。それは、住宅生産が、きわめて個別的で規格化しにくく、製品差別化が著しく、需要が外部環境の影響を強く受けること、生産現場が分散的・移動的であるために生産組織を一定化できないことから、工場生産のような量産効果を期待できないためである。

［殿村晋一］

家を「建てる」から「買う」時代へ

1950年代までの住宅建設は、大工の棟梁(とうりょう)もしくは零細工務店が、施主の資金に依存して、大工、鳶(とび)職、屋根職、建具職ほか多数の生業的な専門職人を下職(したしょく)として利用するという形で行われてきた。施主が「家を建てた」のである。しかし、50年代後半から業界構造は大きく変化した。経済の高度成長は、大都市への人口集中、核家族化を進め、大都市圏における住宅不足と地価高騰を引き起こした。郊外農地や山林の宅地開発、建売分譲住宅の建設、都心部高地価地域での高層マンション（超高級集合住宅から大衆マンションまで）の建設が始まり、大工・工務店から進出した小規模建売分譲業者のほか、地場の建設業者、不動産業者も参入したが、旧財閥系・電鉄系・銀行系の不動産業者や商社など巨大企業の「デベロッパー」としての役割が増大した。1955年に26万戸にすぎなかった新設住宅着工戸数は毎年増加し続け、68年には120万戸、73年には191万戸に達し、「家を買う」時代が到来した。買い替える習慣も定着した。住宅の構造部分を工場生産し、部材の標準化・規格化・量産化によってコストを低下させ、労務費の節約と工期の短縮化（住宅産業の工業化）をねらいとしたプレハブ・メーカーが出現したのも60年代の特徴である。

［殿村晋一］

量から質の時代へ

1973年の石油危機を契機とする低成長経済への移行は、人口の大都市集中を低下させ、72年以降の婚姻件数の減少、世帯数増加の縮小傾向も重なり、住宅不足は量的には解消された。83年には住宅総数（3870万戸）が世帯総数（3520万世帯）を上回り（空家率8.6％）、新設住宅着工戸数も安定水準を示している。しかし、国民の住宅に対する不満は解消されたわけでなく、増改築・模様替えとか、良質の民営借家へのニーズは高まっている。84年の新設住宅着工には、貸家、とくに民間資金による良質貸家が増加している。住宅設備機器メーカーや建材メーカーの新製品や新技術を導入して高級化したプレハブ住宅の売上げが伸び、83年には新設住宅着工戸数の13.3％に達した。住宅産業も「質の時代」を迎えたのである。三世帯住宅とか省エネ住宅の開発のほか、アーバン・ルネサンスといわれる都市再開発の動きにも大きな潜在需要が見込まれている。

［殿村晋一］

『鈴木一編著『住宅産業界』（教育社新書）』

[参照項目] | 住宅問題

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