(Adds unit results and 2019 outlook)
Aug 29 (Reuters) - Australian building products provider Boral Ltd (BLD) reported a jump in annual profit on Wednesday, but it missed analysts' forecasts as housing construction waned in Australia, its largest market.
Boral reported a full-year net profit of A$441 million ($323 million), compared to A$297 million the previous year, and slightly lower than the A$448 million average forecast of five analysts compiled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net profit excluding significant items was up 38 percent to A$473 million, from A$343 million a year ago.
Full-year core earnings from Boral's biggest segment, Australia, rose 15 percent, where it expects "high single-digit" growth for this year, the company said.
The Australian housing market has been one of the drivers of an economy that has now grown for 27 years without a downturn. But a recent weakening has some economists warning of heightened risks of a recession.
The company's North American division reported a 9 percent rise in core earnings compared to the proforma number last year.
The division saw a $45 million gain from the sale of its Concrete and Quarries business and a sales boost from Headwaters Inc., a U.S. concrete ingredients maker it bought last year.
Boral expects core earnings from the North America business to rise by 20 percent or more in fiscal 2019.
The company also announced a final dividend of 14 cents per share, up from the 12 cents it declared last year.
($1 = 1.3669 Australian dollars)
