New home building hit a 20-year high in the final months of 2020, according to new data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The seasonally adjusted figures show that the total number of homes commenced rose 18.6% to 51,055 in the December quarter.
The rise was driven by private sector houses, which rose 26.6% to a 20-year high of 33,761.
Starts on multi-unit dwellings rose 4.1% to 16,049, following a fall of 4.7% in the September quarter.
The value of new residential building work done rose 2.6% to $15.4b in the December quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. Work completed on new houses rose 3.8% to $9.0b, while new ‘other residential’ building rose 0.9% to $6.4b.