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New home sales ebb

New home sales stumbled in February, following four consecutive months of growth, according to a survey of Australia’s largest builders.

The HIA New Home Sales report shows that total seasonally adjusted new home sales fell by 5.3 per cent in February, reflecting a 4.0 per cent reduction in detached house sales and an 11.0 per cent drop in multi-unit sales.

HIA Senior Economist Shane Garrett remarked that, nevertheless, the overall direction of activity is still quite encouraging.

“New home sales are up strongly over the last three months in almost all states, in terms of both houses and multi-units”, Garrett noted.

In the month of February 2013 detached house sales fell by 13.7 per cent in Victoria, 2.8 per cent in New South Sales and 6.7 per cent in South Australia.

Increased sales were reported in both Western Australia (up by 1.9 per cent) and Queensland (up 0.8 per cent) during February.