A new report has revealed that South Australia’s largest homebuilders saw marked improvement in activity levels during the 2015/16 year.

According to the latest HIA-COLORBOND steel Housing 100 Report, the number of homes built by the top 15 largest SA builders increased by 16.2% - from 3,230 to 3,753.

Hickinbotham Group emerged as the state’s largest homebuilder, with 1,170 houses started from 2015 to 2016. This was followed by Rivergum Homes, Longridge Group, and Dechellis Homes, respectively.

HIA executive director in SA Brenton Gardner praised the performance of the state’s homebuilders.

“Facing stiff competition from the builders operating in the booming markets of Sydney and Melbourne, it is great to see a South Australian builder featuring in the top 20 homebuilders nationally, with Hickinbotham Group taking 14th place overall,” said Gardner.

“Across SA, new homebuilding is projected to fall back during the 2016/17 financial year. However, better news may be in store over the closing years of the decade with modest growth expected to take root.”