New home sales decline across most of Australia, but prices rise faster than established homes

The share of newly built homes being sold for the first time has decreased in most parts of Australia over the past three years, according to new analysis of property sales data.

As of June 2024, 35.4% of all house sales in Australia were for properties with no prior sales history, down from 37.4% in 2021.

However, prices for these newly built homes have risen faster than established properties, growing 23.8% over three years compared to 21.9% for resold houses.

The analysis shows varying trends across states and territories:

• Victoria bucked the national trend, with first-time sales increasing from 30.7% to 33.1% of all house sales
• New South Wales saw a decline from 37.8% to 35.1%
• The Northern Territory had the sharpest drop, falling from 28.3% to 22.3%

Victoria’s growth in new home sales is reflected in eight Melbourne suburbs featuring in the top 10 locations nationally for first-time property sales. Tarneit in Melbourne’s west recorded almost double the number of new home sales as the highest-ranking non-Melbourne suburb.

The research also found that in some states, including South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania and the ACT, new homes are now more expensive on average than established properties.

These trends come amid a 40.1% increase in home construction costs since 2020, as measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The findings suggest that while fewer new homes are being sold overall, those that are hitting the market are commanding higher prices relative to existing properties compared to previous years.