Australia New Home Sales

Australia's new home sales plunged 16.0 percent month-on-month in August of 2022, following a 1.13.1 percent drop in the prior month, data from the Housing Industry Association (HIA) showed. The latest figure marked the second straight month of fall in new home sales, with the rise in borrowing costs compounding the impact of higher cost of construction. “The full impact of recent and future rate increases will continue to flow through as an adverse impact on the sale of new homes in coming months," said HIA economist Tom Devitt. “The concern remains that the adverse impact of rising rates on the wider economy will be obscured by this volume of ongoing work and that the RBA goes too far, too soon.” Victoria drove the declines in sales, down by 15.2%, followed by Queensland (-1.8%). By contrast, the other states posting increases were South Australia (18.2%), New South Wales (14.2%), and Western Australia (7.5%).