Residential land sales are losing steam across the Hunter, slowing down by around 23 percent compared to last quarter. 

The latest Housing Industry Association report is seeing lot prices rise significantly, with a serious shortage of shovel-ready land. 

Land sales have fallen by 13.10 percent in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and 32.7 percent in the Hunter Valley.

Meanwhile, the median lot price in the Hunter Valley has now risen to $215,000, a 3.42 percent increase on last December.

Executive Director Craig Jennion says it’s likely to take some time for the industry to catch up with the demand created by last year’s Homebuilder initiative.

“In Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, unfortunately we’ve seen prices go up six percent in the last quarter, and 20 percent over the last 12 months,” Mr Jennion said. “That’s a result of supply and demand.”

“It takes up to ten years to bruing a parcel of land to market, and we expect throughout this year, whilst there’s lots of bulldozers trying to bring land to market, that it will just take a little bit of time for that to occur.”