This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
NEW home sales have fallen to their lowest level since October 2013.
According to the latest HIA New Home Sales Report, new home sales declined by 6.9% in June compared with the previous month and were 11.9% lower than the same period last year.
There was a uniform decline during the month, new detached house sales fell by 5.8% and multi-unit decreased by 10.7%.
There were considerable differences in sales in June around the states with new detached house sales rising both in Victoria (+4.1%) and Western Australia (+21.1%). However, sales fell in New South Wales (-9.7%), Queensland (-29.3%) and South Australia (-23.7%) during the month.
Senior economist Shane Garrett said these results support HIA’s latest set of forecasts that new dwelling commencements are set to continue easing until late 2018.
“The reduction in sales of both detached houses and multi-units during the month of June continues the trend underway since sales peaked in early 2015.
“The fall in sales needs to be considered against the backdrop of residential building coming off a record peak of activity in 2016. We project that residential building will still be operating at a historically high level,” Garrett said.
Australian Property Journal
