November sees strong rise for new home sales
New home sales saw a bounce late last year, following a drop to a two-year low.
New home sales saw a bounce late last year, following a drop to a two-year low.The Housing Industry Association (HIA) New Home Sales Report has shown a 6.1% rise for seasonally-adjusted new home sales in November 2016. The rise follows a fall in October to a two-year low.
Detached house sales were up 5.2%, while multi-unit sales rose 9.3%. Seasonally-adjusted new detached house sales rose in four out of the five mainland states, with NSW the lone exception. Detached house sales in the state fell 5.9%.
“The sector may have just passed its peak, but the short-term outlook is a healthy one, a conclusion supported by other leading indicators such as the ABS measures of building approvals and housing finance,” HIA chief economist Harley Dale said.
Over the three months to November 2016, the HIA said the total number of new home sales fell 0.7% to be down 0.2% on the same three-month period in 2015.
“At this stage of the new home building cycle that’s a very impressive result,” Dale said.
Dale said the outlook for new home construction for the first half of 2017 was healthy, which he said was good news for the broader economy.
“You wouldn’t want to be seeing signals of an imminent and sharp slowdown in national new home building activity, and we’re not. Looking further out, the declines in construction activity will inevitably become chunkier,” he said.
Latest home loans headlines
- Waiting for rates to fall? Don’t bank on it, says ANZ CEO
- 12 Days of Holiday Offers: Get as many as 50 free offset accounts with Up
- 12 Days of Holiday Offers: $3,000 cashback when you refinance with IMB
- The 6 home loan tips I give everyone who’s just bought a house
- Melbourne Cup day rate rise sees another blow to homeowners
Image: Shutterstock
