Housing Industry Association Housing Scorecard ranks Tasmania worst in nation

Tasmania is performing poorly on housing, according to a newly released scorecard, which has ranked the state below all other jurisdictions in the country.

Tasmania is performing poorly on housing, a new report has found. Picture: Getty

Tasmania is lagging behind the rest of the nation when it comes to new housing builds, with fresh rankings placing the state at the bottom of the pile.

According to the Housing Industry Association’s latest Housing Scorecard, Tasmania has a lack of new home building work entering the pipeline, one of the “weaker” renovations markets in the country, and the “weakest” multi-units sector.

“The state was top of the table at the end of 2019 and has most recently slipped behind the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory to be at the very bottom of the table,” the report said.

Luke Edmunds, Labor finance spokesman. Picture: Caroline Tan

Tasmania has a “relatively small” volume of detached houses under construction, the HIA said – just 4 per cent above its decade average.

The report also noted that private expenditure on alterations and additions, including smaller projects, was below its decade average by 1.5 per cent.

Moreover, the HIA said Tasmania had the worst market in Australia for non-first home buyers and “doesn’t rank much better for first home buyers”, with the number of loans showing only a “modest improvement from their earlier troughs”.

The problems are exacerbated by concerning migration figures. In the most recent quarter, there was a net overseas inflow to the state of just 695 people (15.1 per cent above the decade average), and a net outflow of 152 residents to the mainland.

“While this is a moderation of the more significant outflows recently, it still compares poorly to the decade average net inflow of 102 interstate residents,” the HIA report said.

Labor finance spokesman Luke Edmunds said Tasmania was in a housing crisis and there was “no housing” being built under the current government.

“We had [housing] approvals slump to their lowest level in eight years last month. That is not going to get us out of the housing crisis,” he said.

Infrastructure Minister Kerry Vincent. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“We would encourage the [Housing] Minister [Felix Ellis] to look at this [report] and look for solutions, and we’ve shown throughout these terms of government that we’ll support [government] policy, but it’s the execution of it that’s so frustrating.

“[Liberal and Labor are] in lock-step on some of the housing [policies], but to see it being bungled in the execution is really disappointing.”

Infrastructure Minister Kerry Vincent said the government was “on track” to meet its target of building 10,000 new social and affordable homes by 2032 but acknowledged there were challenges around training and retaining apprentices in the building and construction industry.

“It is a constant target to keep people in the trade, but also to bring new people in and to keep those homes being built. So I’d like to see a lot more apprentices in the trade, but we’re doing everything we possibly can to continue building homes,” he said.

Originally published as Housing Industry Association Housing Scorecard ranks Tasmania worst in nation