Australian Home sales jump in June

Home sales jump in June

Australian Home Sales posted strong growth in June but activity in the first half of 2008 was still weak as borrowers battled high interest rates, new data shows.

A Housing Industry Association (HIA) survey of the nation's 100 biggest builders and developers found that house and unit sales rose by 4 per cent last month. Detached house sales increased by 2.6 per cent while volatile multi-unit sales jumped 15.5 per cent in June. But home sales rose by just 0.4 per cent in the first half of 2008.HIA chief economist Harley Dale said momentum had fallen during 2008.

"The soft result for new home sales will actually prove to be a slightly better outcome than evident for building approvals or new home lending figures, both of which will show a fall over the first half of 2008," he said."

Australia is seeing strong demand for housing fuelled by record year on year immigration.

"Clearly production of new housing needs to at least capture this demand."

In June, New South Wales posted the strongest Australian Home Sales Growth of 20.2 per cent, outpacing the resources-driven Western Australia's increase of 16 per cent.The story was different in Queensland where sales fell 9.8 per cent and Victoria, which suffered a 3.7 per cent decline.

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