The Canberra suburb of Bonner was Australia’s top building and population hotspot in 2011/12, according to the latest HIA Population and Residential Building Hotspots report.

The report gives an indication of which locations are likely to experience a strong rise in residential construction activity over the coming years.

There is a $171 million worth of residential building work approved in Bonner, which has a population growth rate of 100%, reflecting the relatively new history of this area.

Bonner is in the district of Gungahlin, about 16 kilometres north of Canberra, named after Senator Neville Bonner, Australia’s first Indigenous parliamentarian.

The second-placed hotspot was Forrestdale-Harrisdale-Piara Waters (about 30 kilometres south east of Perth) with $143 million worth of residential building work approved and a population growth rate of 23.5%.

Yanchep (56 kilometres north of Perth) ranked third where in 2011/12 the value of residential building work approved was over $102 million and the population growth rate was 18.8 %.

The top five list was rounded out by Baldivis (46 kilometres south of Perth), followed by Tarneit (25 km west of Melbourne).

The HIA defines a ‘hotspot as a local area where population growth exceeds the national rate (which was 1.6% in the year to June 2012) and where the value of residential building work approved is in excess of $100 million.

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Source: Housing Industry Association

For the second consecutive year, Victoria dominated the hotspots rankings with the state accounting for 10 of the national top 20.

Western Australia also had a strong year with the state represented four times in the national top 20 ranking.

The ACT punched well above its weight, providing two hotspots to the national top 20.

New South Wales also had two hotspots in the national top 20, following no entries in last year’s list, while Queensland and the Northern Territory each made one contribution.

“Residential building activity is in decline in Victoria and the ACT, but is heading south from record levels. It is no surprise these two regions still feature prominently in the top 20 list. WA, meanwhile, is seeing a recovery in new home building this year and four spots in the top 20 list provide an indication of the potential in the west,” said HIA chief economist, Dr Harley Dale.

“In total there are 68 hotspots identified and many more areas where population growth is relatively fast or where the value of approvals for new homes or larger alterations and additions is quite healthy,” Dale said.

“There is clearly considerable potential for residential construction work in Australia – for a start, six of Australia’s eight states and territories feature in the national top 20 hotspots list.”

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