Sales of new detached homes increased by a further 11.3% in December according to 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.

“The increase in sales in December marks the fifth consecutive monthly increase in new home sales, a full nine months since the end of HomeBuilder,” HIA economist Tom Devitt says.

“This is the highest level of new home sales since 2011, excluding the three largest spikes associated with HomeBuilder. Sales in the final quarter of 2021 were also 25.5% higher than the previous quarter.”

He adds that underlying demand for housing remains exceptionally strong as the pandemic continues to push households toward lower density living. It appears that the more time people spend under lockdown and working from home, the higher is the demand for detached housing and renovations activity.

Courtesy of HIA

“These factors are driving a ‘super cycle’ of housing demand across Australia,” he explains.

“The constraint on home building is not demand but the availability of land, labour and materials. The shortage of labour and materials has led to construction timeframes increasing significantly.”

On a quarterly basis, sales in Queensland increased in the three months to December 2021 to be 49.0% higher than the previous quarter. This was followed by Victoria (+36.8%), New South Wales (+30.2%), and South Australia (+11.2%). Western Australia saw the only quarterly decline, down by 8.8%.