Hickinbotham tops list of SA’s largest home builders

A new list of SA’s largest home builders shows a big name surging upwards – but can it take the top spot? See the full list.

Metricon has surged up a list of South Australia’s largest home builders, despite the financial headwinds that faced the company earlier this year.

The builder started work on 529 new homes in the 12 months to June, up from 410 in the previous year, making it the only builder in the state’s top six to report an increase in housing volumes during the year.

Metricon rose three spots to second on a list of the state’s 15 largest home builders, behind Hickinbotham Group, which remains the dominant player in the local market.

According to the annual HIA-Colorbond steel Housing 100 report, Hickinbotham reported 1843 new-home starts in 2020-22, more than three times the volume of its nearest competitor.

Longridge slipped one place to third on the list, Metro Homes climbed two spots to fourth and Rivergum fell three spots to fifth after reporting a 35 per cent drop in housing starts.

Volumes across the board were significantly lower than the previous record year of activity as the stimulus provided by the HomeBuilder grant began to subside.

HIA chief economist Tim Reardon said shortages of materials and labour, and supply chain constraints, had also held back activity, but those challenges were now beginning to ease.

“The market in 2021-22 was dominated by the adverse impact of rising material prices caused by record levels of demand, supply chain constraints and labour shortages,” he said.

“The supply of building materials has improved significantly in recent months. Shipping costs are declining and the rise in building material costs on the ground is slowing. In some cases, prices have fallen.

“The cost of building will continue to increase in 2022-23, but at a slower rate than last year.”

Two thirds of builders in this year’s Housing 100 report commenced fewer homes in 2021-22 than in the previous year, while in South Australia volumes were lower for eight of the top 15 companies.

Overall, the state’s largest 15 builders started work on 5339 new homes in 2021-22, 7.6 per cent lower than the previous year.

Hickinbotham’s decline was a relatively modest 6.7 per cent, which meant it rose two spots to eighth on the list of Australia’s largest detached residential builders.

Hickinbotham Group managing director Michael Hickinbotham said there continued to be strong demand from home buyers across metropolitan Adelaide and in regional areas.

“We take seriously our responsibility as South Australia’s largest home builder,” he said.

“Now more than ever, families need access to affordable homes and land, and this is what we strive to provide for the South Australian community.

Hickinbotham Group managing director Michael Hickinbotham.

“The provision of high-quality, affordable housing is critical to our ability to attract skilled migrants, which in turn is underpinned by land supply. We are pleased that the government is now moving to ensure this.”

NSW-based NXT Building Group, which acquired Weeks Building Group in 2020, slipped two spots to sixth in South Australia. It reported a 31 per cent fall in housing starts after more than doubling its volumes in the previous year.

Managing director Andrew Helmers said the past 12 months had been challenging for the industry.

“Our business continues to manage costs and adapt to the market, while focusing on delivering homes for our customers in a timely manner,” he said.

“Our focus for 2022-23 is on improving construction timelines, in the areas we can control, continuing to improve the service to our customers and support our trades and suppliers.”

Nationally, Melbourne-based Metricon was ranked as the largest home builder for a seventh consecutive year, with only a slight decline in housing starts to 5969.

After rumours of financial trouble surfaced in March, Metricon was rocked in May by the unexpected death of founder and chief executive Mario Biasin.

While the private company never disclosed its books, Commonwealth Bank stepped in with a $30m rescue package to stop the business from collapsing following a meeting between the Victorian government and Metricon’s top executives.