Residential building activity is picking up as latest final figures for construction activity in the residential sector showed Western Australia lagging behind every other state and territory.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics today released final residential building activity figures for new homes for the September quarter, with WA the only state to record a dip.
For the three months to the end of September, new home building activity in WA dropped 1.2 per cent, compared to the previous quarter.
Queensland recorded the largest increase with 6 per cent, followed by ACT at 4.5 per cent and Victoria at 3 per cent.
However, latest new home sales figures released by the ABS earlier this month showed that WA had recorded the highest increase with 12.1 per cent.
Housing Industry Association chief economist Harley Dale today said while 2009/10 would be a healthier year for new residential construction, there were question marks over the sustainability of the up-cycle.
"First home buyer-related activity, the Social Housing Initiative, and the lagged impact of very low mortgage rates will combine to generate growth in new residential work done in 2009/10," he said.
"It remains unclear, however, whether the recovery can gather legs beyond this year in the face of persistent supply side obstacles, rising interest rates, and what to date is an insufficient number of upgrade buyers and investors to fill the void left by first time buyers. "
