NSW Crowned Top State For Residential Building

New South Wales has been declared the premier state in Australia for residential building, according to new figures released today.

The Housing Industry Association (HIA)'s bi-annual Housing Scorecard report reveals that NSW has been elevated to the number one ranking  for residential building with a score of 85 on the strength of the state's home building recovery.

Western Australia has dropped to second place (81) after a long reign at the top, and is narrowly ahead of Victoria at third (77).  The Northern Territory scored 61 points, ACT 59, Queensland, 55, South Australia 49 and Tasmania 37.

HIA Economist Geordan Murray said: "“NSW continues to rate highly on indicators measuring levels of multi-unit dwelling construction, but it may be a surprise to some that NSW also rates very highly across indicators of detached house building.”

“The buoyant housing market has played a significant role in elevating NSW up the rankings, but the rapid price growth has intensified affordability pressures. Lending figures reaffirm the challenges facing first home buyers. First home buyer lending highlights this as the weak spot in the housing market, and ranked NSW as the third weakest jurisdiction on this indicator.

“The recovery in Queensland continued to gather momentum. The analysis shows the improvements can be attributed to a boost in multi-unit home building. The improvements lifted the state one place up the league table. To maintain the positive momentum we’ll need to see the recovery broaden its base through improvements in detached house building and renovations activity.

“In the post mining boom era, the focus has been on shifting the drivers of economic growth, which would see eastern states gain prominence. The latest Housing Scorecard highlights that it has been residential building that has picked up the first baton and led the charge."The HIA Housing Scorecard benchmarks the contemporary performance of fourteen key indicators of activity in residential building against long term averages in each state and territory. This analysis is aggregated in a scoring system to generate a league table ranking the relative strength/weakness of residential building conditions in each jurisdiction.