Tamworth new house construction down due to drought

While the construction industry is far from drying up, data from the Housing Industry Association (HIA) shows it’s slowing down.

There have only been 412 new homes approved during the year to June, which is down by around 12 per cent compared with the previous year.

HIA senior economist Geordan Murray said the decline in new home building was reflective of softer demand conditions in the local economy.

“The drought conditions impacting local primary producers is resonating throughout the region’s economy more broadly,” he said.

“In this environment, some households are likely to put off major purchase decisions such as building a new home.”

Mr Murray said the level of home building activity in the Tamworth region peaked last year.

“The building-approval cycle reached a high point in 2016, when there were 558 new homes approved,” he said.

“This provided a solid pipeline of building work for 2017 but building approvals have eased back from the 2016 peak over recent months.”

While the region may be down on quantity, it’s not down on quality.

Three Tamworth building firms took home a swag of awards at the recent HIA’s Northern NSW Housing Awards. G.J Gardner Homes, Green Homes Australia and Trist Constructions all took home gongs.