Hickinbotham reasserts dominance of SA housing market

An annual list of SA’s biggest home builders reveals how the big players have increased their dominance amid record construction levels.

The state’s biggest home builders have reasserted their dominance of the state’s housing market, led by Hickinbotham Group which has extended its lead as the biggest local player in the industry.

According to the annual HIA-Colorbond steel Housing 100 report, Hickinbotham reported 1976 new home starts across the state in 2020-21, almost four time the volumes reported by its nearest competitors Rivergum and Longridge Group.

Hickinbotham climbed four places to 11th on the list of Australia’s biggest home builders, and broke into the national top ten for detached housing, up one spot from last year.

The HIA-Colorbond report ranks Australia’s largest 100 residential builders based on the number of homes commenced each year, and includes a snapshot of the top 15 builders in South Australia.

NSW-based MJH Group, which acquired Weeks Building Group last year, was the big mover in South Australia, rising from seventh position to fourth after more than doubling its volume of building activity to 493 housing starts.

HIA chief economist Tim Reardon said detached housing activity had reached record levels on the back of the HomeBuilder grant, while the apartment market had stagnated due to the standstill in overseas migration.

“The past year has been a remarkable year for home building,” Mr Reardon said.

“We are seeing a record number of detached homes commence construction while at the same time, apartment construction is in the midst of a significant slump.

“The majority of builders increased their number of dwelling starts in 2020-21 compared to the previous year. Those that didn’t were more likely to be in the multi-unit market.

“The loss of overseas migration last year hit the apartment market almost immediately.

Hickinbotham Group managing director Michael Hickinbotham.

The HomeBuilder grant helped to deliver a 27 per cent increase in new housing starts in South Australia in the year to June.

Overseas students, tourists and migrants often stay in multi-unit dwellings when they first arrive in the country. This trend was exacerbated by the shift in consumer preferences towards lower density housing.”

The federal government’s HomeBuilder scheme has fuelled demand for new housing across the country, with SA a standout as the state with the highest per capita number of grant applications in the country.

That helped new housing volumes in the state soar by 27 per cent in the year to June to 13,655.

And the state’s biggest 15 builders were the major beneficiaries, with their market share increasing from 35 per cent to 41 per cent in 2020-21.

Hickinbotham Group managing director Michael Hickinbotham said the company had more than $2bn worth of developments under way in South Australia, including projects at Two Wells, Roseworthy, Hackham, Moana, Hayborough and Strathalbyn.

“The home building industry has a critical role in the state’s response to Covid-19, buoying

confidence and stimulating trades and associated industries,” he said.

“We have expanded our team by more than 100 people in response to heightened activity generated by the federal government’s HomeBuilder stimulus.”

Weeks Homes chief executive Peter McIndoe. (Photo: AAP/Brenton Edwards)

Weeks Homes chief executive Peter McIndoe said HomeBuilder had supported the industry throughout the Covid-19 health crisis.

“When the MJH Group acquired the Weeks business in 2020 we set some serious growth objectives and to have more than doubled the number of homes started in 2019-20 is a great result,” he said.

“We are now focused on delivering new homes to our customers and navigating the challenges the industry is currently facing with material constraints, and we have a number of strategies in play to achieve that.”

Nationally, Metricon Homes was ranked as the largest home builder for a sixth consecutive year, reporting a 34 per cent increase in housing starts to 6052.

The country’s top 100 builders accounted for 80 per cent of new detached homes in the 12 months to June, up from 68 per cent in the previous year.