New home sales holding up
According to data released by the Housing Industry Association there has been an increase in the number of new homes sold Australia-wide, suggesting that demand from new home buyers remains strong.
HIA’s ‘New home sales’ series for September shows that, in original terms, the sale of new houses and units across Australia rose by four percent following a rise of five percent in the previous month.
The Association says that the second increase in two months will ensure that home building activity and building materials manufacturing will remain strong into 2003.
Ruth Morschel, HIA’s executive director of public affairs and policy says that a factor underpinning continued demand for new homes is their value compared to the spiralling cost of an existing dwelling. “The price of an established house has risen by 18.9 percent in the year to June,” she says. “Over the same period the price of a brand new house has risen by only 3.3 percent.”
Source: Building Products News.
6-Nov-2002