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HIA recently revealed Australia’s strongest markets for home building in the 2023 edition of the HIA Population & Residential Building Hotspots Report. The report identifies Australia’s fastest-growing suburban regional ‘hotspots’ based on population growth and also indicates areas with high levels of building activity and, therefore, employment for the building industry. Once again the HIA Hunter region was well represented in the report.
“Nine areas of the HIA Hunter region qualify as housing hotspots based on their strong performance in terms of building approvals and population growth,” commented HIA Hunter Executive Director Craig Jennion.
“Thornton-Millers Forest, is once again the HIA Hunter regions number one building hotspot with a population growth rate of 6.6% and $119.5 million in building approvals.
“Second on the list, Branxton-Greta-Pokolbin, had a population growth rate of 5.6% and $145.7 million in building approvals.
“Up one place from last year, Kurri Kurri-Abermain was ranked third with a population growth rate of 3.5% and $71.2 million in building approvals”, said Mr Jennion.
Of the nine hotspots, five are located in the Hunter Valley, three in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and one on the Central Coast.
An area qualifies as a hotspot in the Hunter Valley and Central Coast region if at least $50 million worth of residential building work was approved during the 2021/22 financial year, and its rate of population growth is faster than the 1.2 per cent national average.
“The report found that Australia’s population growth improved after being constrained in previous years due to closed borders, whilst the value of building works approved and the growth rates of the local population has been very high locally.
“COVID-19 has also seen consumer preferences shift away from inner-city apartment style living to detached housing in regional areas. This shift saw strong Hunter based areas in this edition of HIA’s Population and Building Hotspots Report,” concluded Mr Jennion.
Below is a table and map which details the nine HIA Hunter Region Building and Population Areas.
“There were 9,490 detached homes approved in the month of April 2025, up by 3.3 per cent compared to the previous month,” stated HIA Senior Economist Maurice Tapang.
The Treasurer has handed down the 2025/26 Tasmanian Budget. The Budget focuses on alleviating cost of living pressures, health, education and infrastructure, while mapping out a path to a fiscal balance surplus in 2032/2033.
“The NSW planning system has failed to deliver the number of homes we desperately need and we fully support removing the politics from housing, to address this growing crisis,” said Brad Armitage, HIA Executive Director NSW.
The Victorian Opposition’s announcement that it would remove stamp duty for first-home buyers spending up to $1 million on a new or existing home if elected at next year’s state election, is a positive step towards improving home affordability,” says Steven Wojtkiw, HIA Victoria Deputy Executive Director.