Detached houses help lift new home sales

The most recent HIA New Home Sales report shows new home sales experienced a second consecutive increase in January, bolstered by a rise in detached house sales.

New home sales closed out January strongly, up by 3.1 per cent, with detached house sales recording a 5.8 per cent increase.

Queensland witnessed the biggest growth in detached house sales (+7.9 per cent), followed by Western Australia (+7.3 per cent), Victoria (+5.5 per cent), New South Wales (+4.2 per cent) and South Australia (+1.3 per cent).

Despite the healthy year ahead for detached houses and multi-unit construction, HIA chief economist Harley Dale said this year would not surpass the heights of 2015.

“The overall trend evident across both leading indicators is very similar, signalling that once the current (record) pipeline is exhausted, new home construction activity will soften,” he said, referring to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ building approvals data and the HIA New Home Sales report for January 2016.

“The new home building sector is crucial to Australia’s economic prospects in 2016 and should continue as a mainstay of domestic economic activity.

“That is provided policy considerations and debates under way now don’t have adverse consequences for confidence towards housing.”

[Related: Dwelling approvals decline in January]