Renovations continue to spur building activity as homeowners pass up new purchases in favour of adding value to their existing homes.
ABS figures show renovation work grew 0.9% in the September quarter to be up 6.3% on last year. HIA acting chief economist Andrew Harvey said renovations were the "shining light" of the building industry.
"This trend of growing renovations is likely to continue not only because Australians love to renovate but also as households increasingly prefer to direct excessive property transaction costs towards improving their existing homes rather than trading up," he said.
New home building, meanwhile, fell 1.5% in the September quarter, and was down 5.2% on the same period last year. Harvey said new home building was on a "consistent downtrend".
