From the HIA:
Total seasonally adjusted new home sales increased by 2.2 per cent in November 2014, following a lift of 3.0 per cent in the previous month. That result saw total sales increase by 2.9 per cent over the three months to November 2014 to a level 8.3 per cent higher than was evident for the three months to November 2013.
The upward momentum in new home sales over the second half of 2014 was driven by sales of multi-units. This component of new home sales began to display a renewed upward trend from around May last year, reversing a previous downward slide which began in November 2013. Prior to late 2013, multi-unit sales displayed something of a choppy ride in the early days of the new housing upcycle (which began in early 2012). Nevertheless, within this choppy ride to recovery, monthly volumes clearly ‘stepped up’ to consistently elevated levels from May 2012. ABS building approvals displayed a similar pattern. After a strong first stanza in the current upcycle in approvals of multi-units (‘other dwellings’) from May 2012, approvals trended back down from September 2013, only to reverse that trajectory from March 2014.