Housing industry sees modest increase in new home sales

THERE was a modest recovery in new home sales in October, with the housing industry welcoming a 3.4% rise in sales during the month on Thursday.

Housing Industry Association chief economist Harley Dale said the association's monthly new home sales report also revealed a 31.4% rise in multi-units sales during the month.

But sales of new detached homes fell by 2% during October, marking the fifth fall in six months.

Mr Dale said the results were a mixed bag, and despite the weak headline result for detached homes, there were modest rises at a state level for New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia.

"Detached house sales in Victoria were a big drag on the aggregate result in October, slumping by 12.1%," he said.

"If you take that result out of the mix, then detached house sales actually posted a rise of 2.4%."

The board of the Reserve Bank meets for its final rates decision of the year on Tuesday.