New home sales bounced in December on the back of booming multi-unit sales.
New home sales jumped 6.0 per cent overall in the final month of 2015, according to Housing Industry Association (HIA) data released on Wednesday.
Multi-unit sales were up 21.1 per cent, after a 15.1 per cent decline in November, while detached house sales rose 2.2 per cent.
"The headline monthly rise in December 2015 is a result driven, encouragingly, by both the detached house and multi-unit segments of the market," HIA chief economist Harley Dale said.
Dr Dale said the results, viewed alongside building approvals and housing finance figures, indicated "very healthy" national construction volumes would continue in the first half of 2016.
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However, he warned the December figures also showed large differences in new housing conditions across the states would continue this year.
While increases in sales were 5.2 per cent in Queensland and 5.0 per cent in Western Australia, sales declined by 2.1 per cent in South Australia and 0.1 per cent in NSW.
"The updates we receive for leading indicators in coming months will be closely watched to determine the magnitude of any risk that the second half of 2016 is materially weaker for new home building than the first half of the year," Dr Dale said.
