Car sales seems to be a notch ahead of selling real property.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) data shows a 15.2 percent rise in the sale of new cars in August. The figure translates to nearly 695,666 new cars being sold in for a twelve month period until August 2010.

The difference between the car sales in August last year and this month's total is 91,823. The FCAI data has New South Wales on top of the list with 211,335 cars sold for 12 months. The state of Victoria follows with 188,707.

Chamber executive James Goodwin disclosed Toyota has topped the sales in South Australia. Holden and Ford came in next. Four-wheel-drives, Goodwin said, are still popular in the state.

In August, the overall new car sales for the entire country is 82, 122. Chamber statistical figures show 46,504 (56.6 percent) are passenger vehicles while 18,515 (22.5 percent) are sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

Passenger vehicles took 61.3 percent of the sales in August 2009, making a drop of 4.7 percent this August. However, SUV purchases in August last year was at 19.1 percent, an increase of 3.4 percent.

New car sales in August last year was 8,835 cars less.