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Building activity is becoming more uniform across the country, helping policymakers to more easily coordinate decisions that will equally benefit each region, according to new data.
Housing Industry Association (HIA) chief economist, Tim Reardon explained, “For much of the past decade there have been highly divergent market conditions between capital cities, and even within each state. This has challenged policymakers who were attempting to cool the boom in Sydney and Melbourne markets and in doing so, inadvertently exacerbated the downturn in markets in Western Australia and Northern Queensland.”
“National policy settings - including repeal of regulatory restrictions, lower interest rates and now income tax cuts - have shifted to encourage growth. The market now faces more consistent and appropriate regulatory settings across the economy which should, in turn, put a floor under the market downturn.”
The HIA Housing Scorecard ranked each of the eight states and territories according to the performance of twelve key residential building indicators.
Reardon noted that this edition of the scorecard shows Victoria is still supporting a strong level of building activity on the ground, despite a slowdown in the volume of new work entering the pipeline.
He also highlighted that first home buyers have been taking advantage of the improved affordability of homes in the state.
“There is a convergence of conditions underway in the building industry as the markets in Sydney and Melbourne cool, meaning they have joined the resource intensive jurisdictions with more modest levels of building activity,” he added.
From first to last, the HIA Housing Scorecard rankings were: VIC, TAS, NSW, ACT, SA, QLD, NT, WA.
The largest gain in score was Tasmania, causing it to jump up three spots and the largest decline was QLD, which dropped three slots lower.
