Stockland has painted a cautious picture of recovery in its first-home buyer-dominated greenfields housing market as it reported a 17 per cent increase in prices of new homes sold over settlement values in the first half.

ASX-listed Stockland said on Wednesday it had 6232 signed contracts with customers at the end of the March quarter – up from 5565 a year earlier – and with an average value 17 per cent over that of the 1974 homes it settled in the six months to December.