Victoria has emerged as the strongest state for building and construction work, according to the latest CommSec State of the States report.

The report showed construction work in Victoria is 21.9 per cent above its decade average, ahead of Tasmania (up 21.6 per cent), South Australia (up 21.3 per cent) and NSW (up 1.1 per cent).

In more good news, Victoria improved its performance for relative dwelling starts – now 22.5 per cent above the decade averages.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows that over the last 12 months, Victoria had more dwellings approved than any other state.

ABS data shows that a total of 64,785 new residential buildings were built in the 2020-21 financial year.

Of these new buildings, 57 per cent were standalone singular homes (36,992).

The latest data shows that over $5.4 billion worth of new residential homes were constructed in the September quarter last year.

If we were to include renovations in this figure, it would take us up to $6.3 billion.

In the 12 months to September 2021, $21.8 billion of new homes were built. This is a slight decrease to our state’s five-year average of a surplus of $22 billion worth of new homes a year.

Supply constraints have seen this figure decrease from March to September 2021.

Government stimulus packages such as Homebuilder, paired with the fact that many Victorians could spend their disposable income on their home rather than eating out or going overseas on holiday during last year’s lockdowns, has led to more demand for new homes and renovations work.

In the 12 months up to November 2021 – Victoria saw a total of 70,463 building approvals for new residential buildings, the highest that we have seen in three years.

Almost 70 per cent (48,951) of these are made up of singular dwelling homes.

With international borders re-opening, we can expect to see slow but steady growth in Victoria’s population as we enter 2022, further influencing the growth of building approvals.  

Melbourne is set to overtake Sydney and become the nation’s largest city with a population of 5.7 million by 2027.

So, the increase in population will naturally affect demand for new homes and buildings.