Sales of new homes across Australia ended the year on a positive note, inching higher in the month of December, according to figures released this week.
HIA's New Home Sales figures show that the sale of new homes and units increased by 1.2 per cent in December to 8,053 dwellings. Sales of new houses increased by 2.6 per cent, while the sale of multi-unit dwellings dipped by 7.8 per cent.
Building industry body, HIA, said that the figures are another signal that the slide in new home demand is at or near the bottom of the cycle.
HIA's Executive Director, Housing and Economics, Simon Tennent, said that solid rises in four of the five states is good news but overall sales volumes are still well below those of previous years.
"The rise in sales across New South Wales is encouraging, reflecting a number of new releases north of Sydney", Mr. Tennent said.
"Both Victoria and Queensland also reported good months while Western Australia saw a fairly sharp dip."
"Interestingly, the dip in WA is a result of volume builders not bothering to open display homes over the month, in order to catch up with the backlog of work created by the incredible demand recorded earlier in the year," he added.
"Looking forward, there are some encouraging signals for Australia's home builders, particularly on the housing affordability front with trade prices flattening, household incomes inching higher, and land availability improving", Mr. Tennent said.
HIA's New Home Sales Survey is compiled from a sample of the largest 100 residential builders in Australia and is a leading indicator on new housing activity. Figures from the survey for the month of November 2005 show that detached house sales increased by 11.1 per cent in New South Wales, 6.3 per cent in Victoria, 9.7 per cent in Queensland and 0.7 per cent in South Australia. Sales fell 14.6 per cent in Western Australia.
