In February 2012 the volume of new home sales bounced modestly off a concerning January low, says the Housing Industry Association.
The HIA – JELD-WEN New Home Sales report, based on a survey of Australia’s 100 largest builders, showed a modest increase of 3.0% in total seasonally adjusted new home sales in February 2012. Detached house sales rose by 2.2% while multi-unit sales jumped by 10.5%.
HIA chief economist Dr Harley Dale says that any bounce in new home sales in February was encouraging after an awful start to 2012.
“Furthermore, it was the continued decline in Victoria from previous record highs which pulled new home sales down in February, while there was improvement everywhere else.
“Looking beyond just one month, however, there is much work to be done to see new home sales volumes back at healthy levels across the country,” says Harley.
“In a contemporary economic environment where interest rate settings are too high, finance conditions persistently tight, consumer and business confidence too low, and plans to tighten fiscal policy inappropriate, it is hard to envisage a sustained recovery in new home sales in coming months.
“However, the beginning of a recovery seems evident in Western Australia (but nowhere else) and the prospect of policy reform in New South Wales and Queensland increases the likelihood of a lift in new home sales volumes in these states through 2012/13. Obviously further interest rate cuts wouldn’t go astray in helping perpetuate this recovery.”
In February 2012 the number of seasonally adjusted new detached house sales increased by 12.8% in Western Australia, 5.3% in New South Wales, 3.5% in Queensland, and 0.3% in South Australia. Detached house sales dropped by 7.4% in Victoria.
Over the three months to February 2012 the total number of seasonally adjusted new home sales fell by 5.6% to be 16.8% lower than the three month period to February last year. Detached house sales fell by 6.8% over the three months to February this year to be down by 17.0% in annual terms. Detached house sales fell over the February 2012 ‘quarter’ in New South Wales (-3.3%), Victoria (-18.3%), and Queensland (-11.3%). The sale of multi-units in Australia increased by 5.4% over the February 2012 quarter, but the level was still 15.0% lower when compared to the three months to February 2011.
