Australia’s Housing Industry Association (HIA) has released its latest Population and Residential Building Hotspots report and the honors are going to Victoria and Western Australia. Regions reach the top of the list if they are gaining in population faster than the national rate of growth and also have more than $100 million in approved property construction in the works. The report identifies a total of 68 hotspots around the nation, although not all of them are growing nearly as fast as those positioned closer to the top of the list. For more on this continue reading the following article from Property Wire.
The states of Victoria and Western Australia are the top two property hot spots in Australia, according to the annual report from the Housing Industry Association, the voice of Australia’s home building sector.
The Australian Capital Territory also putting in a strong performance in the report which defines a hot spot as an area where population growth exceeds the national rate (which was 1.6% in the year to June 2012) and where the value of residential building work approved is in excess of $100 million.
The HIA Population and Residential Building Hotspots report also provides an overview of Australia’s fastest growing metropolitan and regional areas in 2011/2012.
For the second consecutive year, Victoria dominated the hot spots rankings with the state accounting for 10 of the national top 20. Western Australia also had a strong year with the state represented four times in the national top 20 ranking.
The ACT punched well above its weight, providing two hot spots to the national top 20. New South Wales also had two hot spots in the national top 20, a welcome development following no entries in last year’s list, while Queensland and the Northern Territory each made one contribution.
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‘Residential building activity is in decline in Victoria and the ACT, but is heading south from record levels. It is no surprise these two regions still feature prominently in the top 20 list. Western Australia, meanwhile, is seeing a recovery in new home building this year and four spots in the top 20 list provide an indication of the potential in the west,’ said HIA chief economist Harley Dale.
Bonner in the ACT was Australia’s top building and population hot spot in 2011/2012 with $171 million worth of residential building work approved and a population growth rate of 100%, reflecting the relatively new history of this area.
The second placed hot spot was Forrestdale-Harrisdale-Piara Waters in Western Australia with $143 million worth of residential building work approved and a population growth rate of 23.5%. Yanchep in Western Australia ranked third with the value of residential building work approved was over $102 million and the population growth rate was 18.8%. The top five list was rounded out by Baldivis in Western Australia, followed by Tarneit in Victoria.
‘In total there are 68 hot spots identified and many more areas where population growth is relatively fast or where the value of approvals for new homes or larger alterations and additions is quite healthy,’ explained Dale.
‘There is clearly considerable potential for residential construction work in Australia. For a start, six of Australia’s eight states and territories feature in the national top 20 hot spots list.
The disconnect comes from an insufficient amount of this potential being realised this year in terms of actual residential construction activity,’ said Dale.
‘With interest rates falling significantly we would normally be seeing far healthier levels of activity and compelling evidence of a sustainable recovery, but neither of these outcomes is forthcoming in mid 2013,’ he pointed out.
‘Policy makers other than the Reserve Bank have a role to play in ensuring residential construction activity is commensurate with the need to rebalance Australia’s economic growth. Success in such policy action would also necessarily be reflected in a more efficient and productive Australian economy,’ he added.
This article was republished with permission from Property Wire.
