Australia’s boom in detached home construction continues to strengthen, the latest survey suggests.

Releasing its latest report based on a survey of large volume home builders across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, Housing Industry Association said that sales of new homes increased by 11.3 percent in December.

The rise represents the fifth consecutive monthly increase in sales and has brought the seasonally adjusted number of new houses sold to its highest level since 2011 excluding three large monthly spikes which were associated with HomeBuilder.

Sales were also up 25.3 percent over the December quarter when compared with the September quarter – although the latter was affected by lockdowns in New South Wales and Victoria.

The latest survey follows other indicators of the strength in demand for new detached home construction – albeit with softer conditions being evident in the multi-unit sector.

In November, the seasonally number of private detached homes which were approved for construction came in at 10,392 – a number which is lower compared with recent months but higher than at any time on record prior to the HomeBuilder grant.

Likewise, November readings for the number of new loans which were made for either the construction of a new dwelling or the purchase of a newly constructed dwelling remain above levels seen prior to HomeBuilder.

HIA Economist Tom Devitt says the latest result bode well for new home construction in 2022.

But he cautioned that the sector continued faces challenges in resource availability.

“Underlying demand for housing remains exceptionally strong as the pandemic continues to push households toward lower density living. It appears that the more time people spend under lockdown and working from home, the higher is the demand for detached housing and renovations activity,” Devitt said.

“These factors are driving a ‘super cycle’ of housing demand across Australia.

“The constraint on home building is not demand but the availability of land, labour and materials. The shortage of labour and materials has led to construction timeframes increasing significantly.

“As a result, the volume of approved-but-not-yet-commenced work is at its highest level in over a decade.”