New home sales tumble

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The first half of 2018 has seen a downward trend in new house sales. Sales across the five mainland states declined by 4.4 per cent in May, representing a fifth consecutive monthly fall. Sales are now 14.1 per cent lower than in May 2017.

The deterioration of sales over the year to date reflects the shifts in housing market conditions. The availability of credit has tightened over the past 12 months with banks responding to the decline in house prices and the Banking Royal Commission. Restrictions on the availability of credit have been tightening since 2015 but the combination of APRA restrictions and increased collateral requirements are resulting in higher borrowing costs for new home purchasers.

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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.