New home sales dip in July across most states

New home sales fell by 20.5 per cent in July, with declines across the major states to 4,646 houses. HIA economist Tom Devitt advised sales for the three months to the end of July were only marginally lower than at the same time in 2020 when the first positive impacts of HomeBuilder were emerging. Sales for the three months also remain 4.3 per cent higher than at the same time in 2018, which was a relatively solid year for home building. “This solid level of sales following the end of HomeBuilder suggests that demand for detached housing remains robust despite the poor result in July," Devitt said. “Low interest rates and changes in consumer preference for location of housing have been the major drivers for activity following the end of HomeBuilder. “Sales data over coming months will indicate if recent lockdowns have impaired consumer confidence or if this July result is an anomaly. “There is now a record number of homes under construction across the country,” added Mr Devitt. Western Australia was the only state to see an increase in new home sales for the month of July, up by 8.5 per cent. There were declines in New South Wales (-14.8 per cent), Queensland (-25.4 per cent), South Australia (-29.4 per cent) and Victoria (-32.2 per cent). States performed much better when comparing the last three months to the same period in 2018. Western Australia was up by 34 per cent, followed by New South Wales (+12.5 per cent), Victoria (+10.9 per cent), South Australia (-11.5 per cent) and Queensland (-30.2 per cent). “This month's sample captures 23 per cent of Australia's new detached home building sector,” the update noted. No data was published by the HIA for multi-unit sales.