The deterioration in housing affordability is dampening Western Australia's housing boom cycle with the state's largest builders starting 14,631 dwellings last financial year, a drop of 8.4 per cent on the previous year.
The deterioration in housing affordability is dampening Western Australia's housing boom cycle with the state's largest builders starting 14,631 dwellings last financial year, a drop of 8.4 per cent on the previous year.
The latest market snapshot provided by the Housing Industry Association's annual 'Housing 100' report also revealed the national market share of the state's 20 largest builders fell from 64.4 per cent in 2005-06 to 59.2 per cent in 2006-07
Despite being the largest home builder in WA and Australia, BGC took one of the biggest hits with its dwelling starts in WA falling 36.7 per cent to 3,443 starts last financial year.
BGC's closest rival, the Alcock/Brown-Neaves Group, slipped a modest 4.7 per cent last financial year to record 3,312 starts.
While the activities of some builders appeared to be slowing down, several builders have picked up including Scott Park Homes (up 25.4 per cent to 988 starts) and Pindan (up 9.7 per cent to 614 starts).
HIA executive director WA Sheryl Chaffer said the largest builders in the state had the capacity to deliver an additional 1,500 homes, but they continued to be weighed down by regulation, taxation and supply-side constraints.
The full text of an announcement from the HIA (WA) is pasted below
Western Australia's largest home builders failed to better last year's strong performance with a drop in the number of starts during 2006/07. The market share of the largest builders also slipped back, when compared to 2005/06.
In a year when 24,720 homes were commenced in Western Australia, the fouteenth annual HIA Housing 100 shows that total home starts were lower among the state's largest twenty builders, as was their market share, down from 64.4 per cent in 2005/06 to 59.2 per cent.
The largest twenty builders in the state started 14,631 dwellings in 2006/07, a decrease of 8.4 per cent on the previous year. Total housing starts fell by 4 per cent in Western Australia last financial year.
BGC (Australia) were again the state's and the nation's largest builder over the year with 3,343 starts, 1,215 fewer than the 4,558 starts achieved in 2005/06 but still enough to keep them ahead of the Alcock/Brown Neaves Group who came in second in both the National and State rankings.
HIA's Executive Director, Western Australia, Ms Sheryl Chaffer, said the fall in housing starts can partly attributed to the end of the housing boom cycle .
"The significant deterioration in housing affordability over the past year means that Western Australia's new home building industry is likely to face a significant challenge ahead", Ms Chaffer said.
"It is somewhat frustrating that the economies of scale that the state's largest builders have in delivering affordable product has been all but eroded. This group has the capacity to deliver an additional 1,500 homes per annum but they continued to be weighed down by regulation, taxation and supply-side constraints," Ms Chaffer said.
This report is yet another clear signal that sensible reforms and national leadership on housing affordability must remain a priority.
