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An increase in new dwelling commencements and a steady recovery for renovation investment are predicted in the Housing Industry Association’s (HIA's) National Outlook Spring 2013 report.
Shane Garrett, HIA senior economist, said the report indicates that improving levels of dwelling commencements achieved in 2012/2013 will be consolidated in the next year, before increasing in 2014/2015.
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Mr Garrett said renovations investment is also expected to grow in a majority of states after falling to a 10-year low in 2012/2013.
“Growth in housing starts during 2013/2014 will be concentrated in large states like NSW, Queensland and WA. Growth in renovations will be much more broad-based, with increases occurring across most states,” said Mr Garrett.
The HIA report predicts continued strong growth in the years ahead.
“Looking further ahead, we see dwelling commencements lifting above the 170,000 per year mark by 2016/2017, matching the highs achieved during the post-GFC stimulus,” he said.
“Over this timeframe, renovations activity is also likely to increase steadily, reaching $30.3 billion by 2017/2018.”
However, Mr Garrett warned that appropriate policy settings were required to see this predicted growth in the housing sector come to fruition.
“It is absolutely crucial that planning reforms and infrastructure delivery facilitate the requisite supply of new housing,” he said. “There currently exist many bottlenecks around land supply, infrastructure and the time taken to achieve planning approval for new dwellings.
“It is important that both federal and state governments address these obstacles and work with the housing industry in delivering a sufficient supply of affordable housing.”
