Australia's New Home Sales Fall in 4th Straight Month in August

The sales of new homes in Australia fell by 2.6 percent to 6,887 in August, the Housing Industry Association (HIA) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The fall followed a 7.1 percent drop in July and brought the decline since April to 19.7 percent.

Sales in August were 20.5 percent below the level recorded a year earlier in August 2009 and at their lowest point since December 2008.

Sales of new homes have fallen for the fourth month in a row, prompted the Australia's peak housing construction organization, HIA, to warn of the risk to the industry if interest rates are pushed up too soon.

HIA chief economist Harley Dale said earlier that interest rate increases and the unwinding of fiscal stimulus measures had quelled demand for new housing.

"An array of leading housing indicators, including new home sales, is signaling a fall in housing starts in 2011, even if interest rates remain steady," Dale said.

"A premature hiking of interest rates would exacerbate the impending decline in new home building," he said.