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The ACT’s residential building conditions have come under the spotlight with the territory recording a dire result on the HIA’s latest housing ranking, after detached house approvals plummeted.
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has called out the ACT’s detached housing and renovations market after the territory ranked seventh in the latest Housing Scorecard.
The scorecard compares current levels of activity in the states and territories against long-term averages.
Measures include home building and renovation activity, lending data, and population flows.
HIA ACT and Southern NSW executive director, Greg Weller, said the territory had the “weakest” detached housing and renovations market, after it also placed second-last for multidwelling approvals.
“The number of new detached houses being approved and commenced has plummeted to its lowest level since before records began half a century ago,” Weller said.
“The ACT and the Northern Territory are the only jurisdictions where the volume of houses under construction is below their respective decade averages.”
In addition, approvals for multi-units have been the weakest in over 15 years, which Weller said was almost a 50 per cent decrease from the decade average in the most recent quarter.
He said this has led to a decline in the volume of multi-units under construction, reaching its lowest volume in seven years.
“This is a dramatic turnaround from the significant volumes of apartment building undertaken in the nation’s capital over the last decade-and-a-half,” he said.
Interstate migration also saw a net outflow of more than 400 residents in the most recent quarter.
This compares to a decade average of nearly zero, with Weller predicting the “failure to address the structural issues around land costs and regulations” means residents could continue to leave the ACT.
Weller also said the HIA welcomed the ACT government’s recent “missing middle” draft reform, which would create a path for the construction of 30,000 new homes by 2030 and allow for more housing diversity.
He said the reforms would have the “potential to see significantly more low-rise multiresidential dwellings delivered in the capital”.
"However, in the absence of broader reform to impediments such as third-party appeals, lease variation charges and approval delays, there is a risk that these potential gains won’t be realised,” he added.
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