Another healthy year for new home construction is likely for 2014/15, according to the latest HIA-RP Data Residential Land Report.
The latest figures show that quarterly residential land sales held up at reasonably elevated levels throughout 2013/14, resulting in 10 per cent growth over the fiscal year.
HIA Chief Economist Harley Dale said that both capital city and regional land markets experienced higher turnover.
“In the June 2014 quarter itself residential land sales increased by 8.4 per cent, but were 4.5 per cent lower compared to their quarterly peak in June last year.
“There is still a wide variation in the trajectory of residential land values around Australia this cycle, within which growth in the weighted median price for capital cities well out-paces that for regional Australia,” Dale remarked.
“Over the longer time frame of the past fifteen years there has been a substantial increase in residential land values, which cannot be repeated if the nation is to succeed in adequately housing its growing and ageing population. Land supply remains a policy area that requires much greater focus, and not just at a state level.”
In the June 2014 quarter the weighted median price of residential land increased by 1.1 per cent to $205,330. This marks only the third time the value has exceeded the $200,000 threshold.
Capital city land prices increased by 1.8 per cent in the quarter to be up by 7.4 per cent compared to the June 2013 quarter. Land prices in regional Australia were essentially flat in the June 2014 quarter - easing by 0.1 per cent - to be up by 4.1 per cent in annual terms.