Tasmania is well in the game and up on the Scorecard as far as growth in housing and its economy are concerned, HIA Executive Director – Tasmania, Rick Sassin said.
“The HIA Housing Scorecard, was released with Tasmania showing strong results in areas of new detached home growth and an emerging first homebuyers market, Mr Sassin said.
“The Scorecard is a measure of how each state stacks up in terms of new home growth and can be seen as a reflection of the state’s economies overall.
“The best news in the Scorecard was that the creation of detached new homes is up by 28.7% from the last decade, Mr Sassin added.
“Tasmania’s economic revival has seen a resurgence in population growth and this is evident in the construction workforce which was up by 32.8% from the average decade.
“Numbers in first homebuyers have picked up significantly, with Tasmania having the fourth largest number of first homebuyers. It has increased its place on the Scorecard from the previous, highlighting that more younger homebuyers and investors are realising greater opportunities in Tasmania.
“As well as new investors, more young Tasmanians are taking up the opportunities on offer in their home state rather than seeking work in other parts of Australia.
“The generous first home building grants on offer to Tasmania’s First Home Buyers over recent years has played an important role in delivering better conditions. Residential building activity has strong and positive knock-on effects for the wider Tasmanian economy.
“Unemployment is down and 7,500 new jobs have been created over the past two years. Hobart is now Australia’s strongest capital city for dwelling price growth.
“Pressures such as rental prices and availability have emerged in the state’s housing market in the past few months but the lift in new building approvals, especially in the detached housing sector, provides a positive sign for residential building activity,” concluded Mr Sassin.
Source: HIA