ABN Group WA's biggest builder, third in Australia

ABN Group’s geographical diversification has cemented it as Western Australia’s most prolific homebuilder, while the continuing downturn in residential construction in the state has pushed BGC Australia's residential division down the rankings of the nation’s biggest builders.

ABN Group was ranked as Australia’s third biggest builder in the 2018-19 Housing Industry Association-Colorbond Steel Housing 100 survey, with around 42 per cent of its 2,987 dwelling starts occurring outside of WA.

Victoria’s Metricon Homes was the most prolific builder in the nation with 4,473 housing starts, while Harry Triguboff’s Meriton Apartments was the second biggest in 2018-19 with 3,288 starts.

BGC Housing Group was ranked 12th in the nation following two years of non-participation in the survey, registering 1,624 housing starts in 2018-19, all in WA.

BGC Housing Group last appeared in the Housing 100 in 2015-16, ranked only behind Metricon Homes in Australia with 4,049 housing starts.

Business News research for the BNiQ Residential Builders list indicates BGC’s activity fell to 2,436 starts in 2016-17 and 2,051 starts in 2017-18, its activity declining in line with the continued fall in overall housing construction in WA.

No other WA-based builders were ranked in the top 20 nationally in this year’s survey.

BGC Australia subsidiary Ventura Home Group recorded 897 starts in 2018-19 to be WA’s third-biggest builder, while JWH Group came in at 4th in the state with 733 starts.

Rounding out the WA top five was Redink Homes with 654 housing starts.

Conditions for WA builders have been deteriorating since hitting a cyclical peak of around 23,000 detached home starts in 2014-15, HIA statistics showed, with 2018-19 detached home commencements recorded at fewer than 12,000.

As activity has declined, WA’s top 10 builders have been increasing market share, which increased from 43 per cent in 2017-18 to 51 per cent in 2018-19, the HIA said.