New home sales rebound

Sales of new homes rebounded in April, according to a monthly survey of Australia’s builders.

The latest HIA New Home Sales report shows that sales rose 16.5 per cent in the month of April 2025, to the highest level in 12 months.

HIA Economist Maurice Tapang suggests the rise is likely a result of the rate cut in February 2025, the first one in over four years.

“New home sales have improved on the previous month’s decline, which was due to the effects of inclement weather and Cyclone Alfred which adversely impacted home buying activity in some regions”, Tapang said, adding that other factors supporting activity include low levels of unemployment, recovering real wages and elevated housing demand from ongoing population growth.

“New home sales data have signalled that home building may be past its trough, confirming our expectations of a pick-up in activity in 2025.”

Tapang believes this increase will be modest, with states such as Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia being key growth drivers.

“Sales have also improved in New South Wales at the start of this year, although this is coming off anaemically low levels in the last two years”, he said.

“Victoria had a poor start to 2025, recording consecutive months of declining sales. This left sales in the last three months to April 2025 down by 17.7 per cent compared to the same time in the previous year.

“With another rate cut having been delivered in May and expectations of further cuts on the horizon, it would not be surprising to see increases in new home sales in the months ahead”, Tapang concluded.

New home sales in the three months to April 2025 rose by 23.7 per cent in Western Australia compared to the previous quarterly period. This was followed by Queensland (up 8.2 per cent) and New South Wales (2.2 per cent). Over that same period, South Australia recorded a 13 per cent decline in sales, followed by Victoria, down by 1.2 per cent.