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Queensland tops the housing scorecard

Queensland has been propelled to the top of HIA’s Housing Scorecard for the first time since 2007.
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, including detached and multi-unit building activity, renovations, housing finance, and rates of overseas and interstate migration. Source: Timberbiz

“With building activity booming across the economy it is difficult to pick just one jurisdiction that is outperforming the pack. Even in this strong market, Queensland has made the most of its opportunities,” HIA economist Tom Devitt said.

“Interstate migration has offset some of the loss of overseas migration in Queensland, unlike other east coast states.

“More than twice the number of interstate migrants are heading to Queensland than the average of the past decade. Other states have also seen a rise in interstate migration but none as strong as Queensland,” he said.

Mr Devitt said that this ongoing population growth had combined with new population dynamics, government stimulus and record low interest rates to support demand for new housing in Queensland.

South Australia and Tasmania had also benefited from interstate migration and were experiencing record volumes of building activity ranking second and third.

“The biggest mover has been Western Australia having jumped from the bottom of the table into fifth place in less than a year,” Mr Devitt said.

“The exodus of residents from Western Australia that has occurred for several years has been reversed and there are encouraging signs that the multi-unit market might also pick up.”

He said that at the other end of the spectrum, the loss of overseas migrants had been compounded by the loss of residents pushing Victoria down to seventh. Unit approvals and commencements in Victoria fell more than 40% below their decade averages.

“A surprise has been the strength of the apartment market in New South Wales,” he said.

“Multi-unit commencements in Sydney returned to pre-pandemic levels and recent approvals support this upward trend.”

The number of medium density units gaining approval in New South Wales has also reached a 25 year high.

This was a strong result given the adverse impact of the decline in overseas migration. It suggested that the underlying shortage of apartments in Sydney was greater than previously thought.

“There is very little separating the top seven jurisdictions and a return of overseas migration will assist in ensuring the housing market continues to pull the economy forward,” Mr Devitt said.