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HIA today revealed Australia’s strongest markets for home building in the 2024 edition of the HIA Population and Residential Building Hotspots Report. The Report is aimed at finding employment growth areas targeted towards builders and tradies and identifies Hotspots in all states and territories.
An area (Statistical Area Level 2) qualifies as a Hotspot in the national list if at least $200 million worth of residential building work was approved during the 2022/23 financial year, and its population grows faster than the national growth rate of 2.4 per cent.
“The value of residential building approvals in Box Hill - Nelson in 2022/23 was $597 million, while its population grew by 26.5 per cent,” added Mr Tapang.
“Box Hill - Nelson narrowly inched out Fraser Rise - Plumpton’s population growth rate of 26.4 per cent, placing the Victorian Hotspot at second place on the national list.
“Fraser Rise - Plumpton in Melbourne’s West is ahead of Box Hill - Nelson in terms of the value of residential building work approved, at $660.1 million in 2022/23.
“The third place on the list went to Marsden Park - Shanes Park in Sydney’s Blacktown area, with a population growth rate of 19.7 per cent and $370.1 million in residential building approvals.
“There were 11 areas in Victoria that made it to the Top 20 list, many of them in the growing outer suburbs of Melbourne. New South Wales had four home building hotspots, Queensland had three, while Western Australia and South Australia held one each.
“The top three population and home building Hotspots are in the outer suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. The other areas in the Top 20 national list are predominantly greenfield developments supporting existing cities across Australia.
“This is testament to the role that greenfield developments play in supporting the growth of our cities.
“Australia’s population continued to rebound well into September 2023, as overseas migration continues to backfill for the near zero growth during the pandemic.
“The latest population data suggests that New South Wales is experiencing an exodus of residents to interstate destinations. What has been keeping its population figures growing are the inflow of overseas migrants.
“The drivers of housing demand are population and economic growth. Supporting population growth will require supplying adequate homes, which will entail providing the necessary infrastructure and land supply to grow our cities.
“As the high cost of the typical house and land package in some of our capital cities becomes out of reach to the typical income earner, it is important for policymakers to facilitate the supply needed to fill housing shortages.
“Home building and population growth areas are clearly occurring in new greenfield developments across our cities. Strong demand for housing will need to be met with a commensurate pipeline of home building to add to supply.
“In order to build the Australian Government’s target of 1.2 million homes, there needs to be a healthy balance between greenfield and infill developments to support building well-located homes of all types,” concluded Mr Tapang.
“Over the last 25 years, the price of the typical new residential lot of land has risen more than three times faster than construction costs,” stated HIA Chief Economist Tim Reardon.
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) today welcomed the Tasmanian Government’s announcement that Mr Ben Wilson has been appointed interim Chief Executive Officer of Homes Tasmania, stepping down from his role as Chair of the Homes Tasmania Board.
“Today is a bad day for business in NSW with the passage of the Digital Work Systems Bill,” said Brad Armitage, HIA NSW Executive Director.
The South Australian Government recently introduced changes to the laws that deal with licensing of builders and trades, as well as domestic building contracts. These changes commenced on 15 January 2026.