The value of residential building work done is forecasted to grow from $51 billion in 2013-14 to $68 billion in 2016-17, according to forecasting done by Master Builders Australia.This will see the number of dwelling starts to exceed 200,000 during this timeframe.
There will be good growth in both detached houses and apartments, however the period will see the construction of detached housing making a strong comeback, said Master Builders spokesman Ben Carter.
“The strong growth in units and apartments in the last 12 months has driven the recovery and growth in this period of the residential building cycle, and that is likely to keep growing strongly,” he said.
“Up until June 2013, there were about 70,000 apartments that had been built, and that will be just over 80,000 by the end of this year. It will continue to grow strongly in the next two years, but may tail off a little bit in 2017.”
"However, the construction of detached houses which has been lagging a little bit is now playing a very strong game of catch up. In June 2013, there were about 93,000 houses that had been built but by June 2017, there is going to be about 122,000.”
This growth cycle can be attributed to interest rates remaining at low levels, which has allowed for unmet pent up demand to be addressed – built up from the previous decade where supply failed to match strong population growth.
