Dwelling completions up in WA

An increase in the rate of home completions could signify a new start in the market, the Housing Industry Association claims.

Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today shows a 35 per cent increase in homes completed in Western Australia in the September quarter.

According to the ABS, there were 4,559 homes completed in the September 2023 quarter compared to the 3,364 dwellings recorded in the June 2023 quarter.

Housing Industry Association WA executive director Michael McGowan said the recent data was the first real sign that the industry was beginning to make inroads following the challenges experienced in the past three years.

“WA completed 4,559 homes in the September 2023 quarter, the strongest number of completions since 2017 and a 35 per cent increase on the June 2023 quarter,” he said.

“For the last three years we have talked about the ‘snake that ate the wombat’ and the frustration that this has caused consumers and builders.

“These numbers show that we appear to be making some significant inroads into this volume.

“There has been a significant amount of work done to build capacity in the residential building industry with increased apprentices and skilled migration playing their role to help deliver an increase in completions and getting Western Australians into their new homes.

“We are by no means out of the woods, but we are confident that these number will continue to be repeated over the next twelve to eighteen months and help reduce the significant backlog of homes under construction.”

ABS data shows 19,117 homes remained under construction in WA in the September quarter, down from the 20,356 dwellings recorded in June 2023.

The average rate in the number of dwellings completed across the country is a 1.2 per cent growth, according to the ABS.

However, HIA senior economist Tom Devitt said the rate of dwelling construction starting in the September quarter had been the weakest in more than a decade.

“Australia commenced construction of just 23,058 new houses in the September quarter 2023, the weakest quarter in over a decade and down by 21.6 per cent on the same quarter last year,” he said.

“This data reveals there were 103,707 detached houses that commenced construction in the twelve months to September 2023, down by seventeen per cent on the 124,940 commenced in the previous twelve-month period.

“This points to a slow start to national cabinet’s ambition to build 1.2 million homes over the next five years starting mid-2024.”

The ABS data shows 3,487 dwelling units commenced construction in WA during the September quarter.