By Robert Carry

The ongoing recovery in Australia’s property markets could stall if planning delays and the lack of new land releases persist, according to the Housing Industry Association (HIA).

 “A recovery in new residential construction is underway, but there is a very real risk that costly delays in planning approvals and land shortages will combine to blunt the magnitude of that recovery,” said HIA’s chief economist, Harley Dale. “The new home construction needed to pick up to in order to avoid unnecessary upward pressure on home prices.

According to the recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the weighted average capital city established house price index increased by 4.2% in the September 2009 quarter to be 6.2% when compared to the same period last year.

The established house price index increased by 4.3% in Sydney, 4.7% in Melbourne, 4.4% in Brisbane, 1.7% in Adelaide, 4.5% in Perth, 1.8% in Hobart, 3.4% in Darwin, and 4.3% in Canberra.

The weighted average index for project homes across Australia’s eight capital cities increased by 1.3% in the September 2009 quarter to be up by 2.5% compared to the same period last year.

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