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The Housing Industry Association (HIA) says new home sales remain in “strong shape” despite a modest decline in July this year.
Total seasonally adjusted new home sales eased by 0.4 per cent in July, according to the HIA.
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Detached house sales increased by 0.7 per cent for the month, but fell by 2.8 per cent in the three months to July to be 3.4 per cent lower when compared to the same period last year.
Multi-unit sales fell by 4.2 per cent in July following a 2.9 per cent decline in June. However, over the three months to July, multi-unit sales still managed to post a solid 8.3 per cent rise, driven by a strong surge in May.
HIA chief economist Dr Harley Dale said new home sales are spending mid-2015 drifting along at a historically high level.
“It appears that the cyclical peak for total new home sales occurred in April, but the subsequent downward trend is very mild,” he said.
“Key leading indicators of home building, including HIA new home sales, suggest little prospect for further growth in new home construction in 2015-16.
“However, following three consecutive years of strong growth which has propped up the domestic economy considerably, both HIA new home sales and ABS [Australian Bureau of Statistics] building approvals signal another healthy year for new home construction in 2015-16.”
[Related: Building approvals bounce back in July]
