New home sales fell in November as interest rates rose for the third time this year stalling new home buyers, new figures show.
The Housing Industry Association's new home sales figures showed that the sale of new homes and units among Australia's largest builders and developers dropped 5.3 per cent last month to 7097 dwellings.
The results follow a 1.3 per cent rise in October to 7434 dwellings.
HIA chief economist Harley Dale said the fall was due largely to the November rate rise, which pushed interest rates up to 6.25 per cent and followed rises in May and August.
"New home sales have well and truly had their wings clipped in 2006 as demand for new housing has suffered a second wave of weakness at the hands of a fresh set of rate rises,'' he said.
He said that, with affordability at record lows, there simply were not enough people who could afford to buy new homes.
The monthly HIA report showed that private detached house sales dropped by 7.5 per cent during the month, reflecting falls in the resource-poor states of NSW and Victoria.
Mr Dale said private, detached house sales were now at their lowest level since December, 2000.
Sales of multi-units rose 8.8 per cent, but were note enough to offset a 16 per cent fall in October.
Detached house sales dropped 28.6 per cent in Victoria and 14 per cent in NSW.
But they rose 14.5 per cent in South Australia, 12.3 per cent in Western Australia, and 4.3 per cent in Queensland.
The new home sales survey is compiled from a sample of the largest 100 residential builders in Australia and is the leading indicator on new housing activity.
Source: AAP
