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Kate Miller
New home building activity has surged in the June quarter, pointing to a long-anticipated recovery in residential building activity.
New residential building work rose by 7.7 per cent in the June 2010 quarter, ABS figures showed yesterday.
According to Housing Industry Association (HIA) senior economist Andrew Harvey said the figures confirmed a first stage recovery in new home building was starting to flow through to real building activity.
"This impressive outcome is what we have been expecting for some time now as work in the pipeline has been accumulating in recent quarters but until today has not been reflected in actual work done," he said.
"Excluding alterations and additions, new residential building is up 8.7 per cent in the June quarter 2010, which is the fastest rate of growth since the September quarter 2001," he added.
The surge in activity came off the back of fiscal stimulus and lower interest rates, Mr Harvey said, but whether the recovery would be sustained would remain to be seen.
In any case, the short term outlook was promising, he said, with around $27 billion worth of residential building in the pipeline - the highest level since September 2008.
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