Affordability survey

DESPITE the decline in housing affordability, new home buyers continue to play a role in the market, according to the Housing Industry Association’s monthly new homes sales survey.

The survey, compiled from the sales figures of the largest 100 residential builders in Australia, revealed that the sale of new homes across Australia remained steady in July, rising by a modest 0.4 per cent. 

Detached home sales lifted 3 per cent, while apartments sales fell by 17 per cent.

HIA executive director John Dastlik said the housing industry continued to be underpinned by low interest rates, solid employment growth and a large volume of work in the pipeline.

Although first home buyers formed a declining share of the current market, the value of new homes was still attracting trade-up buyers.

“While there are some concerns over small segments within the industry, the fall in multi-unit sales are in line with recent reports on a number of multi-unit projects being shelved and should provide some comfort to those who warn of a servere oversupply in the inner-city apartment market,” Mr Dastlik said.