The HIA's New Home Sales Report, which gauges sales activity in the residential building industry in Australia's five largest states, has shown that new home sales continue to decline from their peak.

“The decline in new home sales which commenced in 2015 has continued with a 6.1 per cent reduction during September 2017,” said HIA Senior Economist, Shane Garrett.

New detached house sales fell by 4.5 per cent, while 'multi-unit' sales declined by 16.7 per cent.

“The decline in home sales over the past 18 months reflects the slowing in output across the economy," said Garrett.

“Building activity peaked in March 2016 following the longest ever upturn in new home building," he said.

"We expect that activity will bottom out sometime in 2019," Garrett predicted.

In September 2017, NSW was the only state to see growth in new detached house sales with a 3.7 per cent increase.

Western Australia was the largest decline in sales, with a -15.1 per cent slump. Queensland sales were down -8.7 per cent

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