New home sales

HIA chief economist Harley Dale said higher interest rates and rising petrol and grocery prices were affecting housing affordability and "at best" new homes sales would remain flat during 2008-09. The state with the biggest fall in April was Queensland, where new home sales slumped 9.4 per cent. For the three months to April, sales were down 7 per cent and were 14 per cent lower than in the year-ago period.In contrast, West Australian sales jumped 21.8 per cent in April. For the three months to April, WA new home sales were down 11 per cent and were 9 per cent lower than the same period a year earlier.Housing Industry Association WA executive director John Dastlik said it appeared the WA housing market had stabilised. WA's second biggest home builder, Dale Alcock, said falling house and land prices in the past few months had lured back first home buyers.New home sales in NSW eased 0.4 per cent in April and fell 4 per cent for the three months to April, but were 1 per cent higher than a year ago. In South Australia, sales climbed 14.7 per cent in April but were down 5 per cent in the three months to April.

from the Sydney Morning Herald