Building and construction industry’s healthy five year forecast for NT

Building and construction industry forecasts for the NT predict good health is ahead.

BUILDING and construction industry forecasts for the NT predict good health is ahead.

Predictions are the spend in residential building activity will jump from $322.3m in 2020-21 to $580.4m in 2024-25.

Master Builders Australia forecasts that non-residential building activity will jump from $440.3m in 2020-21 to $464.1m in 2024-25.

Civil and engineering construction activity, which recorded $2.147.7bn in activity in 2020-21, is expected to spike in 2022-23 and 2023-24, climbing to $2.639.6bn and $2.605.4 billion respectively.

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It is expected to drop to $2.358.2bn in 2024-25.

The good news comes on the back of latest figures showing that over the three months to February 2021, new home building approvals were up by 72.3 per cent compared with a year earlier.

However Master Builders Australia says it is worth cautioning that the volume of approvals is still quite weak by historic standards. It says not surprisingly, given federal and Territory government stimulus, this upturn is driven by detached houses: in the three months to February 2021, new approvals were 82.9 per cent higher than a year previously.

Its industry forecast says unlike new home building activity, the NT’s home renovations market is yet to shine and latest indications are that activity is likely to contract further before things get better. In the three months to February 2021, just $17.1m worth of building approvals for home renovations work was granted, a drop of 40 per cent on the period 12 months earlier.

Over the medium term, the home renovations market could be in for a strong performance.

As well as the obvious benefits of resurgent house prices, the stock of houses in the NT in the key renovations age group is set to expand strongly over the next five years or so.

It is estimated that the NT currently has about 2800 detached houses in the 30–35 year age group.

This is set to go past 5200 towards the end of the decade and the potential for big gains in home renovations activity over this period is considerable.