Western Australia leads the nation when it comes to home building, according to the Housing Industry Association’s (HIA) latest new home sales report.
The data from the report, a monthly survey of the largest volume home builders in the five largest states, showed a 175% in new home sales in WA over the three months since HomeBuilder and the Building Bonus were announced in early June. Additionally, new home sales in WA over the past six months to August were up by 91.1% -- the highest of all states -compared to the same period the year before.
“WA saw an initial spike of 211% new home sales in June, which moderated in July to 17% before increasing by 11.4%,” said Cath Hart, executive director at HIA WA.
“This is important longer-term because… we also need to be thinking about how to transition the state’s home building industry back toward WA’s long-term average of 22,000 starts by ensuring a stable and sustainable pipeline of activity, plus the right mix of skills to deliver,” she said.
According to HIA chief economist Tim Reardon, new home sales across the five largest states were 61.3% higher in the three months to August than the previous quarter, when “confidence in the market was depleted and new home sales reached the lowest level on record.”
“The improvement in the number of new home sales over the most recent three months will see a lift in the number of homes under construction in the December quarter, compared to what would have been the case without HomeBuilder,” said Reardon.
On the other end of the spectrum, new home sales in Victoria have declined by 14.4% in August as the stage 4 restrictions more than offset the boost provided from HomeBuilder.
“New home sales picked up across the country in June and July following the announcement of HomeBuilder, but the restrictions on travel and closure of display homes in August has had a significant and immediate impact on sales in Victoria,” said Fiona Nield, executive director of HIA Victoria.
“During stage 4 restrictions, Victorian homebuyers have been unable to visit display homes and meet with builders around all the critical decisions necessary for contract signings. August’s results clearly reflect this situation,” she said.
