According to the December Tankan, both principal and small firms started to feel that the lending attitude of financial institutions have become more severe. Among small firms in particular, the difference between the total number of those which feel that the lending attitude is easy and those which feel that it is severe (easy minus severe) has reached a negative figure.
Core housing services inflation, the black line in figure 2, surged over the past couple of years as demand in the housing sector underwent a major shift during the pandemic. The latest monthly readings have started to slow, though that is not yet evident in the 12-month changes shown in figure 2.