Sales of new homes nationally have remained low throughout 2023 and this will see the volume of houses commencing construction continue to contract into 2024 according to the latest HIA New Home Sales report. Source: Timberbiz
HIA Chief Economist Tim Reardon said the only exception to this low volume of sales was in Western Australia where it appeared that house building will “defy the efforts of the Reserve Bank”.
“The volume of new home sales in Western Australia has increased since a trough in early 2023 resulting in sales in the three months to the end of November being 49.1% higher than at the same time the previous year,” Mr Reardon said.
“The strength of sales in Western Australia is now flowing through to a modest rise in approvals. This is likely to see a steady flow of new home starts for Western Australia in 2024.
“Unfortunately, the ongoing acute shortage of skilled trades people in Western Australia will cap the growth in starts,” he said.
This was a unique outcome and would see Western Australia remain out of cycle with the rest of the country.
Nationally, new home sales across Australia fell by 7.0% in the month of November and remain at low volumes as rising interest rates continue to constrain house building.
“This will see the volume of homes commencing construction continue to contract in 2024 resulting in the lowest number of new house commencements since 2012,” Mr Reardon said.
New home sales across Australia in the three months to November 2023 decreased by 0.1% compared to the same time in the previous year. By jurisdiction, sales in the same three-month period compared to the previous year fell in South Australia (-26.1%), Victoria (-14.2%) and NSW (-9.4%). Sales in Queensland increased by 6.3% compared to the previous year, while Western Australia saw a 49.1% increase in the same period.
