Australian apartment sales jump 9.9 pct in Jan: report

Sales of apartments in Australia have surged 9.9 percent in January, however sales in houses remained flat for the month, the Housing Industry Association reported on Monday.

According to the association's monthly report, new home sales in January lifted by 1.8 percent, with major growth in multi-unit, or apartment sales. Detached homes sales increased by just 0.1 percent.

"There is an upward trend evident for multi-unit sales, but sales for detached houses are essentially flat-lining," chief economist of the association Harley Dale said in a statement.

Detached homes sales in January lifted by 5.6 percent in South Australia, 2.7 percent in Victoria and 1.2 percent in NSW, but declined 1.5 percent in Queensland and by 4 percent in Western Australia.

Over the last three months to January, detached house sales had surged by 15.9 percent in Queensland, while declining 3.6 percent in South Australia and 11.3 percent in NSW. Endi