This meant there was an increase of 4.6% in total seasonally adjusted new home sales but sales of multi units in February fell by 6.8%.
‘Both sales and building approvals for detached housing are signalling faster momentum ahead for this component of new dwelling construction, compared to what was evident in the first phase of the recovery,’ said HIA chief economist Harley Dale.
‘This signal suggests more balanced growth ahead in the composition of new home building and adds a further positive dimension to the recovery for many of Australia’s manufacturers and suppliers,’ he explained.
‘New home sales and building approvals are also pointing to a greater geographical breadth to the second phase of the new home building recovery. The initial phase was heavily dominated by two jurisdictions, New South Wales and Western Australia,’ he added.
On a regional basis private detached house sales increased by 17.5% in Queensland, by 9.3% in Western Australia, by 8.8% in Victoria, and by 1.9% in New South Wales. But detached house sales fell by 10.7% in South Australia.
Over the three months to February 2014 detached house sales increased by 32.5% in South Australia despite the latest monthly fall. Quarterly growth was also evident in Queensland at 19.8%, and rose 6.2% in New South Wales, and by 5.1% in Western Australia.
Detached house sales fell by 10.3% in Victoria which Dale said was due to a weak month in December last year.
National multi unit sales increased by 9.7% over the quarter despite suffering a fall in the month of February.
