CANBERRA has jumped down a place in the latest Housing Industry Association (HIA), Housing Scorecard changing the nation capital’s rank to number five. 

The HIA Housing Scorecard ranks each of the eight states and territories based on the performance of their housing markets across a range of metrics.

Executive director of HIA for the ACT and Southern NSW, Greg Weller says: “The mixed results for the ACT across a range of measures put us mid-table, which is not altogether negative and does in part reflect the strength of the top two states, however, the capital has fared better over recent years.

“In fact, over the 15 quarters from December 2009 to June 2013, the ACT was ranked number one on 13 occasions.”

Weller says the ACT is in first place nationally for approvals of multi-unit dwellings, second place in loans to non-first home buyers and third in the value of renovations, loans to first home buyers and sales of established homes.

“The rebounding of the renovation market, which has leapt four places, is very welcome, as is the strong performance of housing finance,” Weller says.

“Unfortunately the ACT is dead last for commencements of detached dwellings, which is a real disconnect from the fact that sales of established homes are performing so well.

“Clearly consumers in the ACT want to buy detached homes, but there is just not the supply of land at a reasonable price to allow them to do so.”