20 April 2015
CommSec has announced that NSW is number one in population growth and dwelling starts over the last quarter but this is based on improvements rather than actual numbers says, the Urban Taskforce.
“An improving economy is excellent for any state and it is good news that NSW is the most improved state in many areas,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “While NSW is improving fast in areas like dwelling commencements (48.9% on the 10 year average) and on population growth (17% on the 10 year average) the state is still behind some smaller states in a number of areas.”
“On population growth NSW grew at 1.43% over the quarter, Queensland grew at 1.49%, Victoria at 1.77% and Western Australia at 2.12%. On the CommSec measure of most improved NSW has top ranking for population growth even though three states exceeded its 1.43% growth.”
“NSW achieved 12,804 dwelling commencements over the quarter while Victoria which is 20% smaller achieved 14,702 commencements. Queensland which is 35% smaller than NSW achieved 9,967 dwelling commencements. The big difference between the three states is that NSW is coming off a low ten year base while the other two states have been doing reasonably well over that period.”
“It is important that there is continual pressure to get more population growth into NSW by reducing the nett outflow of population to other states. It is equally important that there are continual efforts to boost housing supply in NSW by improving the planning system. If NSW commenced dwellings at the same per capita rate as Victoria then 4,500 more dwellings would have helped with the current shortfall.”
“While the CommSec results were positive for NSW in trend terms there is still more work to do in the housing sector.”
