Home Building in Australia Growing in Some States

Aussia Home Building on the UpThe price of homes in Australia could become more attractive for buyers in the next few months and years, after it was revealed that home building is starting to improve across a number of states in the country. It should start to redress the balance in the nation, after it was recently revealed that it sits behind only the UK in terms of how unaffordable house prices have become since the financial downturn.

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) in Australia said that the number of homes being built has been on the rise since it slumped to an all-time low in March of 2012. As of September last year, the number of properties built was at its highest level at any time since 2004. In the year to September, there were some 163,250 new properties constructed across the nation as a whole.

“Looking past the spike in activity due to global financial crisis related stimulus, that is the strongest level recorded since 2004,” said Harley Dale, chief economist of the HIA. He added that while all different types of houses are now seeing increases in the building numbers when compared to the period post financial downturn, it is multi units that are far outperforming detached houses at the current time.

While the latter is currently experiencing growth, its overall building levels still remain around nine per cent below the 20-year average. The same cannot be said for multi units though, with the HIA reporting that these are currently being erected at a rate that is 35 per cent above the 20-year average, perhaps showing a shift in the sort of properties that investors are interested in getting their hands on.

As well as the difference in fortunes in different types of property, there were also discrepancies on regional levels. New building was up by some 8.6 per cent in New South Wales, four per cent in Western Australia and 2.4 per cent in South Australia. However, it fell in other areas, dropping by 8.5 per cent in Victoria, 5.4 per cent in Tasmania and 32.7 per cent in the Australian Capital Territory.