The Housing Industry Association (HIA) says ABS figures released confirm that the first stage recovery in new home building is starting to flow through to real building activity.
HIA senior economist, Andrew Harvey, says new residential building work done rose by 7.7 per cent in the June 2010 quarter.
"This impressive outcome is what we have been expecting for some time now as work in the pipeline has been accumulating in recent quarters but until today has not been reflected in actual work done," Harvey says.
"Excluding alterations and additions, new residential building is up 8.7 per cent in the June quarter 2010, which is the fastest rate of growth since the September quarter 2001."
The volume of work done on major alterations and additions rose for a fourth consecutive quarter in June 2010, up by 1.8 per cent, although the rate of growth has slowed relative to earlier quarters.
"In the short term the building outlook is promising with around $27 billion worth of total residential building in the pipeline, which is the highest level since September 2008," Harvey says.
"However, to ensure that this work in the pipeline does translate in a timely manner to new homes on the ground, the Commonwealth Government (whoever it comprises) will need to work closely with state, territory and local governments to address significant supply-side constraints.
"This needs to include efforts to reduce or remove inefficient taxes such as stamp duties as well as significant reforms to speed up current planning approval processes which in some cases move at a geological pace."
In the June 2010 quarter, seasonally adjusted new residential work done increased by 7.5 per cent in New South Wales, 8.9 per cent in Victoria, 4.6 per cent in South Australia, 0.2 per cent in Tasmania, 11.5 per cent in Queensland, 5.3 per cent in Western Australia and 7.2 per cent in the Australian Capital Territory.
In original terms new residential work done was 12 per cent higher in the Northern Territory compared to the June quarter of last year.
