Sales of newly built homes continue to strengthen, according to the latest monthly survey of Australia's largest volume builders.
The HIA New Home Sales report shows that total seasonally adjusted new home sales increased by 3.9 per cent in April 2013, taking monthly sales back to a level not seen in over a year.
The result was driven by a 6.7 per cent lift in detached house sales, which was experienced across all states covered by the survey, bar Queensland. In contrast, multi-unit sales fell by 9.4 per cent.
HIA Senior Economist, Shane Garrett commented that recent developments are encouraging for the industry.
“In particular, the important detached house segment of the market continues to climb out of recent record lows, and this improvement has largely been broad-based across the states,” Garrett said.
“While multi-unit sales have softened over recent months, the gains made over the course of 2012 have not been eroded.
“A broader look at the situation shows that the volume of sales in the three months to April this year is still 51.7 higher than the trough experienced a year earlier.
“We do, however, need to be considering the longer term prospects of a recovery in residential construction beyond 2013,” he advised.
In the month of April 2013 detached house sales increased by 9.1 per cent in Victoria, 9.0 per cent in Western Australia, 8.1 per cent in New South Wales, and 2.7 per cent in South Australia. Detached house sales fell by 1.8 per cent in Queensland.