WA tops nation in home building

A report released by the Housing Industry Association reveals that WA has triumphed for the second year running in the home building stakes, ahead of the Northern Territory and NSW

Victoria and South Australia both moved up one place in the rankings to fourth and fifth respectively, while the ACT slumped from fourth to sixth.

HIA economist Geordan Murray said the ACT’s decline has been driven by low levels of activity in the multi-unit segment, although there are also emerging signs of weakness in the territory’s detached home building market.

Queensland and Tasmania’s ranking remained unchanged, rounding out the scorecard in seventh and eighth place respectively.

Mr Murray said the recovery in Queensland continues to gather momentum, with analysis showing the improvement being driven by a boost in multi-unit home building.

“While Queensland still ranks as the second-weakest jurisdiction nationally, the margin to the states sitting mid-table has narrowed markedly,” he said.

“Overall, the scorecard shows that WA and NSW have caught up to Victoria in terms of historically high levels of new home building activity.

“However, activity in these states no longer appears to be rising,” Mr Murray said.

“At this point in time, future growth hinges on the capacity of the Queensland market to sustain the recovery.”