Sales of new homes remain at three-year highs, new research shows.
The latest HIA New Home Sales report shows that the volume of new homes sold in Australia fell by 9 per cent in October 2025 but remains higher than in recent years.
According to HIA Chief Economist Tim Reardon, the decline comes off the previous month’s peak.
“Even so, new home sales in the month of October 2025 remain higher than any month in the recent years, excluding September 2025”, Reardon added.
Sales in the three months to October 2025 were 8.1 per cent higher compared to the previous quarter, 24.2 per cent higher compared to the same quarter in the previous year and at its highest level since the August quarter 2022.
“The three cuts to the cash rate have supported market confidence, particularly in the lagging detached housing markets of Sydney and Melbourne”, Reardon said.
“This is further supported by low levels of unemployment, strong population growth and rising established home prices.
“This quarter’s higher volumes were sustained by double-digit percentage quarterly increases in the laggard markets of New South Wales and Victoria”, he added.
“These markets have been slow to respond to rate cuts in the first half of 2025, but it appears that sales here are finally rising sustainably off their troughs.
“With these factors ready to support growth in new home sales, it is increasingly the supply and cost of land that will determine the limit to the rise in sales.
“Lowering the cost of delivering new lots to market will be key to a sustainable increase in new home sales and to house Australia’s existing and growing population”, Reardon concluded.
This month’s decline in new home sales nationally was led by a 19.5 per cent decrease in Victoria, followed by South Australia (down 11.5 per cent), Western Australia (5.8 per cent) and New South Wales (3.3 per cent). Queensland was the only one of the larger states to see a monthly 6.7 per cent increase in new home sales.