Victoria was once again named the number-one state on the Housing Industry Association’s (HIA) Housing Scorecard after seeing robust performance from its new-home building sector.
New South Wales was second on the list, but HIA claimed that this standing, as well as Victoria’s high ranking, will be difficult to keep moving forward.
“The buoyant housing markets in Melbourne and Sydney provided a particularly good environment for residential building over recent years, but we are now in a new phase of the housing cycle. The housing market has softened considerably over the second half of 2018, and it will be increasingly challenging for these two states to continue outperforming,” said Geordan Murray, HIA’s acting principal economist.
Instead, Queensland, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory were seen with the potential to outrank NSW and Victoria. Queensland will likely be driven by renovations, Tasmania may be boosted by detached homes, and the ACT can bank on multi-unit building. When these three states improve in other residential building indicators, they will likely be able to take the top spots, according to HIA.
The Northern Territory and Western Australia, meanwhile, have been seeing challenging conditions for residential building given the thriving resources investment in these states. They currently rank seventh and eighth on the list, respectively.
“While conditions in WA appear to have stabilised, albeit at very low levels, the path to a recovery will a long one. There are signs of improving conditions in the broader state economy, but these are yet to translate into any improvement in residential building,” Murray said.
The HIA Housing Scorecard report presents analysis that ranks each of the eight states and territories based on the performance of 12 key residential building indicators.
