The Australian Capital Territory currently has the best-performing housing market among all states and territories, according to the latest Housing Industry Association (HIA) Housing Scorecard report.
For the first time since 2014, the ACT topped the Housing Scorecard report, which ranks each of the state and territories based on residential building indicators including building activity, renovation, housing finance, and overseas migration.
Tom Devitt, economist at HIA, said the ACT's steady population growth and stable labour market put the local housing market in a good position to weather the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak.
"These has supported strong demand for new homes and renovation activity, which has been boosted by the HomeBuilder program. Activity in the first-home buyer sector has also grown strongly," he said.
The ACT registered strong results in housing finance and building approvals indicators.
The state ranked first for loans to non-first home buyers and second for loans to investors, while it also ranked first for approvals for multi-unit and second for approvals of alterations and additions.
However, the ACT's detached housing sector remained a drag.
Devitt said the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak significantly “reshuffled” this year’s rankings. Tasmania came in second to the ACT, followed by Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, and Northern Territory.
It is worth noting that Victoria has fallen to the sixth spot after dominating the top two places in the scorecard from late 2015 to mid-2020.
"The relative strength of residential building activity across the states and territories will be heavily influenced by the take-up of HomeBuilder and other stimulus measures in 2021,” Devitt said.
