New South Wales has retained its lead over Victoria in the latest HIA Housing Scorecard report released this week.
The HIA Housing Scorecard ranks each of the eight states and territories on the performance of their housing markets across a raft of indicators, including alterations and additions, finance, new home approvals and commencements.
HIA principal economist Tim Reardon said nationally the east coast dominated the rankings, with the west still feeling the effects of the cyclical downturn.
“NSW and Victoria have experienced strong population growth, house price rises and growing demand for more affordable housing which have driven the boom in apartment construction in those states,” Mr Reardon said.
“NSW may have retained top spot but with the slowdown in apartment construction predicted, there is every reason to expect that Victoria, which has had fewer apartments in the pipeline and stronger population growth, may take over the top spot in 2018.”
Queensland remained steady at number three.
“A drop in some key indicators [in Queensland] shows a slowing from record highs last year, but a healthy outlook for renovation activity is holding up the good result.”
South Australia dropped from fourth to sixth overall.
“With very low population growth, SA is lucky that WA and the NT are experiencing a significant downturn or they would have secured bottom spot,” said Mr Reardon.
“Unlike WA and the NT, which experienced massive investments into housing in recent years and are now on a cyclical down turn, activity in SA is declining off an already low base.”
The HIA Housing Scorecard is produced twice annually.
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