Wednesday, 3 February 2021

House approvals rocketing thanks to HomeBuilder

BoomBuilder

Seasonally adjusted detached house approvals shot up to the highest level in more than two decades through normally quiet December. 


Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and especially Perth have seen a huge surge for house approvals, in part driven by the rush to beat the end of the highly successful HomeBuilder grant stimulus. 


Meanwhile, major renovations - which experts had suggested wouldn't benefit from the narrow grant criteria - have absolutely exploded.

Attached unit approvals weren't impacted by the HomeBuilder stimulus, and continued to decline in Melbourne into the end of 2020, though the bottom is now clearly in for Brisbane as vacancy rates tighten.

Overall excellent results which will fuel the rebound in construction employment, being a sector which had been slow to experience a jobs recovery. 

Great to see some more strong news to add to a mining upswing and a domestic tourism boom.