warehousing business were eased to a registration system, the number of newcomers has steadily increased, with the number of warehouse operators reaching 5,902 as of the end of FY2011 (up 847 over the end of FY2001).

In recent years, the construction of large, intelligent physical distribution facilities by foreign or domestic real estate entities or funds has been activated, giving birth to warehouse operators who rent such facilities to develop their businesses. To fulfill sophisticated and diversified needs for physical distribution, warehouse operators tend to combine other multiple physical distribution businesses, such as a consigned freight forwarding business.

## Trends in the Truck Terminal Business and Measures

The truck terminal business plays a significant role in streamlining the flow of transport, mitigating congestion and so on as a nodal point of trucking between a trunk line and a terminal. In recent years, the construction of facilities that provide the functionality of a distribution center (sorting, processing for distribution and so on), as well as loading and unloading, is in progress to meet the sophisticated and diversified needs for physical distribution.

## 8 Trends in the Real Estate business and Measures

## (1) Conditions surrounding the real estate business

The real estate business is one of the key industries that command 2.6% of the total sales of all industries and 10.8% of the total number of corporations (FY2011).

The number of housing starts, on the decline since the Lehman Shocks, bottomed out in August 2009 and took a turn towards gradual pickup, with a temporary slippage under the influence of the Great East Japan Earthquake, following a firm undertone of recovery since, with last-minute demand sparked by Housing Eco-Points nearing the time limit for housing starts at the end of July 2011.

In the existing housing distribution market, the number of successful deals followed a firm undertone, reaching 136,000 for FY2011 (up 4.4% from its year earlier level) according to Real Estate Information Network Systems for IP Services (REINS). $ ^{Note} $

Since December 2011, a voluntary system of rental housing management entity registration that places a certain set of rules on the fulfillment of rental housing management services has been put into effect since December 2011 to foster and develop a good-quality rental housing business. As of the end of March 2012, 1,579 rental housing management entities were registered.

## (2) Precise application of the Building Lots and Buildings Transaction Business Act

The Ministry endeavors to ensure precise administration of the Building Lots and Buildings Transaction Business Act to protect consumer interest involved in housing land and building deals and to expedite distribution. There were 123,922 building lots and buildings traders (as of the end of 2012).

This number is on a slight decline in recent years. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, along with prefectural and municipal governments, endeavor to prevent complaints and disputes by working in conjunction with the bodies concerned while imposing severe supervisory dispositions on those entities that have breached the law. In FY2011, 358 supervisory dispositions were imposed (including 216 revocations of licenses, 54 suspensions of business and 88 orders).

To combat the problems of malicious soliciting at the time of condominium sale, the Act was amended in August 2011 to define the acts that are prohibited in soliciting in connection with building lots and buildings transactions. The Ministry will continue to alert consumers through its Website or other means and work together with the agencies concerned to provide relevant supervision and guidance.