The Housing Industry Association (HIA) released its new home sales data for Australia on Wednesday. New home sales jumped 6.0% in December, after a 2.7% drop in November.

Sales of detached homes increased 2.2% in December, while sales for multi-units climbed 21.1%.

"Key leading indicators of new home building such as HIA-ACI New Home Sales and ABS Building Approvals and new housing finance are consistent with very healthy national construction volumes persisting throughout the first half of 2016. These indicators are also signalling a continuation in 2016 of very large differences in new housing conditions across the states," the HIA's chief economist Harley Dale said.