Residential construction falls by 10 per cent
New residential construction has plummeted in every state except Western Australia, according PRDnationwide’s recent Quarterly Economic and Property Report.
The report showed that during the March 2013 quarter, the total value of residential construction work completed in Australia decreased by 10.1 per cent to $9.65 million.
The ACT and NT saw the most significant fall in residential construction, with a decrease of 19.3 per cent and 17.8 per cent respectively.
Western Australia was the outlier, with a 10.8 per cent increase in residential development.
Director of research at PRDnationwide Aaron Maskrey said Western Australia had shown great resilience in the face of an Australia-wide reduction in residential construction.
"In the area of residential construction, Western Australia has outperformed all the other states and territories in the March quarter," he said.
"This can be attributed in part to ongoing large-scale mining and energy projects in the state, which continued to attract new residents to Western Australian cities and townships at a rate almost twice the pace of the national average.
"All these new residents need somewhere to live and the construction industry has ably supported this growth."