“For the eighth consecutive year, Metricon Homes was revealed as the nation’s largest residential builder,” stated HIA Chief Economist, Tim Reardon.

The HIA-COLORBOND® steel Housing 100 Report, launched this morning, ranks Australia’s largest 100 residential builders based on the number of homes commenced each year.

“Metricon Homes reported a total of 4,693 new home starts across four states during the 2022/23. While Metricon Homes remained on top of this year’s list, the number of homes built was down compared with the last couple of years.

“A drop off in activity was reported by three quarters of the businesses on the list, with the lower numbers reflecting the challenging conditions facing the industry over the last year,” added Mr Reardon.

“ABN Group were the second largest home builder, which is a jump of two places compared to last year’s list. With 3,506 homes built across the Victorian and West Australian markets, ABN Group was the highest ranked of the 26 builders who reported an annual increase in building activity.

“NXT Building Group rounded out the top three with 2,865 starts shared across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT.

“Meriton Apartments ranked fourth on this year’s list with 2,267 new homes built and was also the top ranked apartment builder in the country. Hutchies ranked as the second largest apartment builder with 1,332 homes built, narrowly ahead of the Mirvac Group with 1,258.

“In 2021 and 2022 the industry grappled with a rapid escalation in the cost of construction, with materials in short supply and acute shortages of skilled workers. Throughout 2022/23 the industry faced the added challenge of rapidly rising interest rates.

“While there has been a heavy focus on the impact of higher borrowing rates on households with mortgages and the effect on demand for new homes, the higher borrowing costs also put further pressure on business margins during the year.

“Leading indicators suggest that the volume of home building activity may fall further before a meaningful recovery takes hold. Industry conditions will remain challenging in the year ahead.

“Looking further out along the forecast horizon there will be better opportunities for the industry with the Australian Government having stated their objective of building 1.2 million homes over the next five years.

“This implies the industry will need to undertake a level of home building that has never been achieved in the past.

“This ambitious goal was set with full knowledge that it won’t be achievable under existing policy settings. A well thought out reform agenda will be required.

“Governments around the country must work together to eliminate inefficiencies in planning systems, reform the inefficient taxes on housing, develop mechanisms to fund enabling infrastructure and increase the capacity of the construction workforce.

“Only by enabling businesses in the housing industry to get on with what they do best can this target be achieved,” concluded Mr Reardon.