FIVE Western Australia-based homebuilders have been ranked among the nation’s top 20, with Summit Homes and Pindan making their debut in the top echelon of housing construction.
According to the Housing Industry Association’s Housing 100 report, released last week, Alcock/Brown Neaves group cemented its place as the second largest homebuilder in Australia with 2,736 starts, while BGC, which only builds in WA, rounded out the top three with 2,692 starts.
Pindan was the nation’s second biggest mover, moving up from 28th in 2010-11 to be ranked 12th in 2011-12, with 1,122 houses commenced.
JWH Group came in at 13th, while Summit Homes came in 20th, with 857 starts.
Pindan almost doubled its output, from 688 to 1,122, while JWH starts fell to 1,096 from 1,318.
According to Housing Industry Forecasting Group figures, there were 17,458 housing starts forecast for 2011-12, down from 20,500 in 2010-11. ABN Group lifted its starts by 48 over the previous year, while BGC’s starts were up by 257.
Scott Park Homes, which had 811 starts last year, declined to participate in the survey.
The market share of the largest 20 builders in WA increased from 59 per cent to 64 per cent in 2011-12, the report said.
Nationally, the number of housing starts fell by 7.3 per cent to 48,130 in 2011-12, the lowest level recorded since 1996-97.
Metricon Homes cemented its spot as the nation’s largest builder for the second consecutive year, starting construction on 2,821 dwellings in 2011-12.
The largest 100 builders held a 35 per cent share of housing starts Australia-wide, up from 33 per cent in 2010-11, but below the historical average of 36 per cent.
Revenue earned from home construction by the top 100 builders is estimated to have fallen by 1 per cent to $13.47 billion.
Australia’s largest multi-unit builder was Melbourne’s Hickory Developments, which started 2,163 dwellings, up 8 per cent on 2010-11.
“The result is consistent with the overall experience of the industry in 2011-12, were new home building conditions weakened considerably across Australia,” Housing Industry Association chief economist Harley Dale said.
“Within an environment of subdued demand conditions, both unilateral and cooperative policy reform could generate a much healthier year for new home building in 2012-13.”
