Login
ISCOVER
New home sales have continued to decline following the 2015 peak, according to the latest HIA New Home Sales Report.
The report indicates that there was a 6.1 per cent reduction during September 2017.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
HIA senior economist Shane Garrett believes that these figures point to a reduction in building activity.
“The decline in home sales over the past 18 months reflects the slowing in output across the economy and is a guide to short-term activity in the residential building industry.”
“New home sales is a leading indicator of approvals data and shows that building activity peaked in March 2016, following the longest ever upturn in new home building,” Mr Garrett said.
The senior economist believes that this trend is likely to continue in the next few years but predicts that a recovery will ensue.
“We expect that activity will bottom out sometime in 2019, with a recovery then setting in — assuming the economy reverts to its long-term average growth rate of around 3 per cent,” Mr Garrett added.
New South Wales, however, bucked the trend with a 3.7 per cent increase in growth, while Western Australia and Queensland experienced the greatest reductions of -15.1 per cent and -8.7 per cent, respectively.
[Related: Govt guarantee has driven risky lending: Research]
