Data Reveals Detached Housing Hits Fresh Cyclical High

The latest dwelling data has indicated that there has been a fresh peak for detached houses.

According to the Housing Industry Association, 'new home building' confirmed its number one spot in Australia’s domestic economy in 2015/16, with a healthy June quarter helping deliver a record fiscal year of 229,404 new dwelling commencements.

“Given its strong multiplier impact through to many other sectors – including manufacturing and retailing – new home construction clearly delivered huge economic dividends to the Australian economy in 2015/16,” HIA Economist Geordan Murray said.

“The volume of new residential work done alone generated a record $58.5 billion of economic activity last financial year, before even considering the massive punch provided to other sectors of the economy.

“The industry’s contribution to the economy cannot be overstated and it’s timely for governments to turn their attention to opportunities for reform. There are huge gains for productivity and economic activity if the highly inefficient taxation and regulation of new home building is addressed.

"This focus needs to be led by the Federal government, which in turn cascades down to state and local government through strong inter-government communication and reform," he said.

In seasonally adjusted terms, detached house commencements increased by 6.9 per cent in the June 2016 quarter, which was primarily driven by a jump in commencements in Victoria.

However, the large east coast states recorded strong results which contributed to this being the strongest quarter for detached house commencements since early 2010.

In contrast, the number of ‘other dwellings’ commenced (primarily multi-unit dwellings) declined quite sharply, falling by 23.6 per cent in the June quarter. While this was certainly a large decline in the quarter, the fall occurred from the all-time record high reached in the March 2016 quarter.

An upward revision to previously reported figure for the March quarter now shows there were around 32,600 ‘other dwellings’ commenced, which is 13 per cent higher than the next strongest quarter on record.

In the June 2016 quarter, new dwelling commencements increased in: Western Australia (9.6 per cent) and South Australia (1.4 per cent). Commencements fell in Queensland (-15.2 per cent), Tasmania (-13.9 per cent), New South Wales (-13.7 per cent) and Victoria (-8.2 per cent).

Amongst the smaller jurisdictions which tend to be more volatile, commencements fell in the Northern Territory (-50.7 per cent) and the Australian Capital Territory (-30.2 per cent).