Detached house building in the ACT will see fairly consistent growth over the next three years, according to a new industry report.

The Housing Industry Association’s Outlook for the ACT report for Winter 2017 shows evidence of a slowdown in new apartment building, resulting in an 18.1% decline in new dwelling commencements in the ACT during 2017/18.

HIA Executive Director ACT & Southern NSW, Greg Weller said “consistent with previous data, the picture looks fairly bright for home building, notwithstanding the rebalancing of multi-residential building.” 

“Despite the slowdown in apartment construction, the growing momentum on the new detached house side of the market will result in total new dwelling starts rising by 6.0% during 2018/19 and by 5.5% cent in 2019/20.” 

Mr Weller described the growth of first home buyers in the ACT as “one of the good news stories of the report”. 

“During the June quarter, owner-occupier loans to first time buyers increased by 21.8% compared to the same period one year earlier, taking this sector of the market to 16.9% of new mortgages.” 

“Conditions in the ACT are currently quite favourable from the perspective of residential construction with robust dwelling prices growth, steady inward migration and one of the most solid labour markets in Australia.”

“The ACT’s home renovations market is also well-placed to benefit from the favourable economic conditions with growth of 5.1% forecast for 2017/18 and a 1.2% expansion anticipated in 2018/19,” concluded Mr Weller.