ABS figures released today showed that the value of total building work done fell 2.1 per cent in the December 2010 quarter, while it was up by 6.9 per cent in 2010 compared to the previous year.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of total building work done, covering residential and non-residential, fell 4.3 per cent to $20,696.7 million in the December quarter, following a fall of 2.9 per cent in the September 2010 quarter.
The ABS trend estimate of the value of new residential building work done fell 0.9 per cent in the December quarter.
The value of work done on new houses fell 2.7 per cent while new other residential building rose 2.7 per cent.
Work done on major alterations and additions was flat in the December 2010 quarter, a downward revision on the 2.5 per cent growth reported in the preliminary update in February.
Commenting on residential, HIA chief economist, Dr Harley Dale said that after a weak end to 2010, new housing conditions are deteriorating markedly in 2011.
“In 2011 we look set to experience one of the weakest years for new home starts since the mid 1990?s,” said Dale.
“The Federal Government needs to act urgently to introduce short term stimulus measures to boost new housing activity and turnaround a housing slump that is shutting out first home buyers and aggravating financial stress felt by lower income rental households,” said Dale.
“New home building activity peaked back in mid-2010 and on-going weakening in new housing conditions is having a significant adverse impact on governments? budgets.”
