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The HIA New Home Sales report – a monthly survey of the largest volume home builders in the five largest states – is a leading indicator of future detached home construction.
“This data produced the weakest quarter since June 2020, when the national lockdown drove Australia into its first recession in almost 30 years,” added Mr Reardon.
“New home sales fell in the month of September, for the third consecutive month, by a further 4.2 per cent.
“This reflects the increasing weight that the RBA’s tightening cycle is placing on home buyer borrowing capacity.
“The RBA increased the cash rate again in October, and this will further accelerate the decline in new home sales.
“The RBA’s most acute tightening cycle in almost 30 years is occurring at the same time as the industry is experiencing the fastest increase in home building costs in almost 50 years.
“These compounding forces will see sales continue to slow and the full impact of the rise in the cash rate is yet to emerge.
“This month’s data shows that home building is past the pandemic peak and is now set to experience a long COVID slow down.
“Given the longer-than-usual lags in this building cycle, the RBA’s rate hikes to date will similarly take longer than usual to affect the broader economy.
“Much of the impact of the RBA’s tightening cycle will be obscured until the second half of next year.
“These treacherous lags will force the RBA to wait longer to see the easing in price pressures that it desires. This could result in them weighing too heavily on household finances and jeopardising the housing industry’s future soft landing,” concluded Mr Reardon.
For the three months to September 2022, compared to the previous quarter, most states declined under the weight of interest rates. Victoria led the declines, down by 20.8 per cent, followed by Queensland (-17.0 per cent), New South Wales (-16.3 per cent) and Western Australia (-10.0 per cent). South Australia saw the only increase, up by 6.6 per cent.
“The prospect of a pick-up in home building activity in 2024 is not likely given the low volume of new homes sales in the first three months of 2024,” stated HIA Senior Economist, Tom Devitt.
On 26 March, HIA advised members that NSW will be adopting a transitional period for the use of engineered stone to ensure businesses can fulfill existing contracts with less disruption and uncertainty. Today, HIA has received the formal confirmation from SafeWork NSW acknowledging the significant impact the ban will have on the operations of businesses HIA represents and the engineered stone industry more broadly.
On 15 April 2024, the NT Government will enact the Building Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 addressing commercial registration. The rollout will occur over two stages and contains a significant transition period allowing practitioners time to become registered.
At the recent national Work, Health and Safety Ministers’ meeting, Ministers agreed that state governments may adopt transitional provisions for legacy building contracts that specify use of engineered stone and were signed before the ban was announced.