Building Industry Hammered

Queensland tipped to have quicker recovery.

The latest official data shows a massive 20 per cent slump in new building starts across the country, but Queensland may be in better shape than most.

Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics building activity data found the total number of dwelling units commenced in the private section nationally shrank 20.3 per cent (June 2018 to June 2019) to 46,315 .

Most of that economic drag came from a downturn in other residential building (-26.3 per cent), though house commencements were also down (-16 per cent) nationally.

That came off falls everywhere during the 2018-2019 financial year with Queensland down 13.9 per cent and New South Wales falling to 13.1 per cent.

But Brisbane economist Pete Wargent said: “I wouldn’t say its a particular surprise, plus its coming off a very high base… the lower interest rates will be one driver and APRA  has removed some of the caps put in place on the volume of investors in the market so that could free up a  bit more investment”.

He said Queensland was better placed in the property cycle for a rise now.

“There was a record construction boom and Queensland peaked a lot earlier than Sydney and Melbourne did, so from that perspective, we might be a bit ahead so things might pick up a bit quicker here.”