The collapse of the subprime market in the U.S. has made it harder for Japanese developers to borrow at the same time as building materials and land have become more expensive, Mori said. Sales volumes may extend last year’s drop and Japan’s slowing economy will make it harder to increase condominium prices. The government’s changes to building regulation last June produced a bottleneck in applications and sent housing starts to the lowest in 40 years in September. Housing starts started to recover this year, falling 5.7 percent in January compared with 44 percent in September. Japanese condominium sales may fall for a third year in 2008, according to the Real Estate Economic Research Institute, a Tokyo-based industry publisher.