‘March also brought uplifts in both extensions and suburban units’: 300 per cent increase in new homes in NT compared to same time last year

The number of certificates for new homes in the Northern Territory was almost 300 per cent up in March compared to the same month last year.

• Federal government HomeBuilder scheme sparks surge in new home builds in the NT

THE number of certificates for new homes in the Northern Territory was almost 300 per cent up in March compared to the same month last year when the reality of the COVID pandemic was becoming apparent.

There were 75 Fidelity Fund certificates issued to build new homes last month, which was 23 more than last month and 49 more than March last year.

Home extensions also reveal a healthy increase with 23 certificates last month, 18 more compared to the same time last year.

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Master Builders NT chief executive officer Dave Malone said the Fidelity Fund issued 104 certificates last month — the first month since August, 2016 that the Fidelity Fund had issued more than 100 certificates in a single month.

“It’s clear that this latest surge is driven in large part by the ending last month of the two key stimulus measures, BuildBonus and HomeBuilder,” Mr Malone said.

“March also brought uplifts in both extensions and suburban units, meaning that all three sub-sectors of residential construction performed stronger.”

Significantly the data only picks up residential building activity in building control areas, and does not cover work in communities nor government-funded residential projects.

The increase in construction industry work is reflected in job force numbers.

Nationally the building and construction workforce increased by 10.5 per cent between January 2 and February 13 this year equivalent to an estimated 107,381 jobs.

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The workforce in all states and territories increased over this period, with the Territory second only to Queensland (16.8 per cent) for strongest growth (12.4 per cent).

However, compared to a year ago, the construction workforce has contracted 3.9 per cent nationally, 46,682 jobs.

In the Northern Territory the workforce in February this year was down -2.4 per cent compared to the same time last year.