Queensland shakes off COVID to have the strongest residential construction market

“Queensland continues to have the strongest residential market in the country as the state avoided lengthy lockdowns that occurred along the rest of the east coast,” stated HIA economist, Angela Lillicrap.

The HIA Housing Scorecard report presents analysis which ranks each of the eight states and territories based on the performance of 13 key residential building indicators against their decade average covering, detached and multi-unit building activity, renovations, housing finance, and rates of overseas and interstate migration.

“Demand for new detached and multi-unit construction has remained strong even with lockdowns. It appears that the more time people spend in lockdown, the higher demand is for detached housing and renovations activity. As a result, building activity is booming in every market. Queensland has continued to capitalise on these shifting trends and its low COVID infections to have the strongest residential construction market in the country,” added Ms Lillicrap.

“Renovations activity in Queensland, both approvals and actual expenditure, is booming. HomeBuilder, low interest rates and a shift to lower density housing and a desire for more space is driving renovations activity across the country.

“Queensland has also benefitted from an influx of residents from Sydney and Melbourne which has helped to offset the loss of overseas migration which is a key driver for housing demand.

“The only area in which Queensland underperformed, relative to other jurisdictions, was detached home commencements. The state ranked second last on this indicator despite detached commencements still being exceptionally strong, up by 26.6 per cent on the decade average.

“New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria have all climbed up the rankings despite lockdowns impacting work on the ground.

“Despite a resurgence in residential construction in Western Australia, the state has fallen to seventh position in the Scorecard. The mining boom is still included in Western Australia decade average making it hard for the state to crack the top four places of the Scorecard.

“Overall, Western Australia’s score has more than doubled from 24 points in December 2018 to 51 points in this Report, highlighting how much the state’s housing market has improved.,” concluded Ms Lillicrap.

State Scores