Metricon tops HIA ranking of Australia's biggest builders

Metricon Homes has continued its reign as Australia’s most prolific homebuilder, the fifth consecutive year it has built more houses than any other company.

The Housing Industry Association’s annual ranking of the top 100 Australian builders showed Metricon started building 4,473 houses in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.

Australia’s biggest apartment builder, Hutchies, was the second most-prolific builder, with 3,820 dwelling starts.

Multiplex was ranked third with 3,486 starts.

Housing Industry Association chief economist Tim Reardon said the results illustrated demand for higher density living reaching a new peak, with apartment builders increasing their representation on the list.

“This year the number of units constructed by the largest 100 builders rose by 11.2 per cent, while the number of detached homes contracted by 1.0 per cent,” Mr Reardon said.

Mr Reardon said the results showed limited impacts from the coronavirus pandemic, with the dwelling starts collated to the end of June.

He said he expected the pandemic, and its associated economic shock, would compound an already difficult year for homebuilders, who were already dealing with a declining market due to falling population growth and a bank-imposed credit squeeze.

The total number of new housing starts in Australia fell from more than 220,000 in 2018-19 to around 169,000 in 2019-20.

“Despite the cooling market, the … survey shows that the number of new home starts by the nation’s largest 100 builders increased from 67,694 to 69,459,” Mr Reardon said.

 “The market share of the Housing 100 builders also increased from 35 per cent in 2018/19 to 40 per cent in 2019/20. This is the highest market share for the Housing 100 since 2013/14 and is consistent with previous trends where volume home builders are able to gain market share in a contracting market.

“This also suggests that smaller builders, particularly those outside of the Housing 100, are experiencing a disproportionate share of this market contraction.”

Victoria - 60,611 starts 

1. Metricon Homes 3,262
2. Multiplex 2,437
3. Simonds Group 1,940
4. ABN Group 1,707
5. Carlisle Homes 1,495 

Dwelling starts in Victoria fell 3 per cent from 2018-19, with detached homebuilders dominating the market. Multiplex was the state’s biggest apartment builder, with L.U Smion Builders the only other multi-residential specialist to rank in Victoria’s top 20 builders. 

New South Wales - 49,276 starts 

1. Dyldam Developments 2,272
2. MJH Group 1,765
3. Parkview Construction 1,434
4. Hutchies 1,257
5. Clarendon Residential Group 692

Sydney’s housing market decline manifested itself in the dwelling starts results, with new builds down 20 per cent from the previous year in NSW. The biggest builder in NSW was apartments specialist Dyldam Developments.

Queensland - 29,659 starts 

1. Hutchies 2,359
2. Coral Homes 671
3. Multiplex 650
4. Metricon Homes 604
5. Plantation Homes 521

Queensland’s housing construction market closely mirrored that of Sydney, with starts down 19 per cent from 2018-19, and the biggest builder being an apartments builder, in Hutchies. Multiplex also ranked highly in Queensland, illustrating the appetite for apartments in the Sunshine State.

Western Australia - 14,186 starts 

1. BGC Housing Group 2,332
2. ABN Group 1,540
3. Silvestro Building Group 1,147
4. Redink Homes/101 Residential 741
5. JWH Group 630

BGC Housing Group extended its reign at the top of WA’s builders list to an 11th consecutive year, ahead of the Dale Alcock-lead ABN Group. BGC’s Michael Bartier said the results were an indication of the trust WA homebuyers have in the state’s biggest builder.

South Australia - 10,878 starts

1. Hickinbotham Group of Companies 1,349
2. Rivergum Group 395
3. Longridge Group 343
4. Rossdale Homes 282
5. Metricon Homes 259

 Dwelling starts in South Australia increased by 8 per cent in 2019-20, while the market share of the largest 15 builders in the state was 32 per cent.