WA's property market continued to slow in the December quarter with statistics out today revealing that new home building starts fell for a second consecutive quarter.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that new dwelling commencements dropped 2.3 per cent seasonally adjusted in the December quarter following a 10.2 per cent slump in the September quarter.
Real Estate Institute of WA director of policy and research Stewart Darby said WA had enjoyed a period of significant growth and it was understandable that that home starts would soften.
"The declines are negligible," Mr Darby said. "We had a 13 per cent jump in the June quarter and a 6 per cent jump in the March quarter," he said.
"We had just over 6,000 new dwelling commencements in the December quarter. That is about the same number we were doing in March last year. This isn't cut your throat type stuff."
The number of new building starts in Australia during the December quarter fell 0.8 per cent to 37,413, seasonally adjusted.
New South Wales was the only state to record an increase in seasonally adjusted new building starts with a 5.3 per cent gain. The increase comes after a 4.9 per fall in the September quarter and a 21.4 per cent slump in the June quarter.
New dwelling commencements for the December quarter fell 7.3 per cent in Victoria, 22 per cent in the Australian Capital Territory, 2.1 per cent in South Australia and 1.1 per cent in Queensland.
