The HIA New Home Sales Report, a survey of Australia’s largest volume builders, recorded the first decline for 2015 in May. The four month winning streak came to a modest end in May 2015 with total seasonally adjusted new home sales falling by 2.3 per cent. The decline was driven by a 5.1 per cent dip in detached house sales, reflecting weaker monthly demand in four out of the five states surveyed. DFA observes that the rotation from houses to units continues to build momentum, in answer to the demand for investment property, where returns to builders are also higher.
The mature stage of the new home building cycle primarily reflects further momentum in the ‘multi-unit’ sector, together with persistence of healthy conditions in New South Wales and Victoria. New sales of multi-units increased by 7.6 per cent during the month to yet a new record level, with sales volumes up by 26.7 per cent over the three months to May. Meanwhile strength in detached houses sales is evident in NSW and Victoria, with growth in the May 2015 ‘quarter’ of 5.2 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively.
In the month of May 2015 detached house sales increased by 3.3 per cent in Queensland, but fell by 2.3 per cent in NSW, 9.9 per cent in Victoria, 5.2 per cent in South Australia, and 8.1 per cent in Western Australia. In the May 2015 quarter, detached house sales increased in NSW (+5.2 per cent) and Victoria (+6.2 per cent). Sales fell over the three month period in SA (-8.1 per cent), Queensland (-7.5 per cent), and WA (-1.3 per cent).
