Home building sector appears to be in flux, HIA says

Australia's home building sector has been shifting throughout 2013, and the latest update from the Housing Industry Association (HIA) shows new home sales data corroborates this belief.

Harley Dale, chief economist for HIA, stated that detached housing has stepped up to drive growth of new home sales, while non-detached housing has put on a less-than-stellar performance so far this year.

In June, new home sales rose by 3.4 per cent, marking the fourth monthly increase in a row. Detached house sales saw a strong 7.3 per cent increase by the end of the financial year, the report showed.

"Last financial year was a tale of two halves for new home sales. The first stanza was dominated by weakening detached house sales up against stronger multi-unit sales, the latter marked by an improving detached house segment occurring as the multi-unit market lost momentum," Mr Dale stated in a media release.

This came alongside a report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that showed housing prices rose for the third consecutive quarter, suggesting the property market recovery is indeed in full swing.