Australian apartment construction highest in decade: survey

Australians are favouring new apartments over detached houses with apartment construction hitting its highest level in over a decade, according to a new industry report released Thursday.

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) survey said that new home sales increased for the second consecutive month in November.

The HIA report said the sales of new homes increased by 2.2 percent in November, following a 3 percent rise in October, and the construction of new apartments reached its highest level since September 2003. In contrast, the sale of detached house fell 1.5 percent in the month.

HIA chief economist Harley Dale said there was a trend of buyers favouring apartments over detached houses, and this looked set to continue.

"The key leading indicator measures of building approvals and new home sales suggest this re-concentration of growth in the ' multi-unit' segment will persist into 2015," Dale said in a statement.

"Renewed upward momentum in the multi-unit segment drove growth in overall new home sales in late 2014, a trend unlikely to be reversed when the December result comes through."

Dale said housing policy reform would help more detached houses to be constructed.

"Providing a further burst of growth in detached house construction ... would at the same time provide productivity gains for the broader Australian economy. That should be a policy no- brainer," Dale said. Endi