Victoria, a powerful state player in Australia's overall economic landscape, is looking to move forward with housing growth and better infrastructure and quality of life for its residents.
With the release of the Housing Industry Association's (HIA) report on Population and Residential Building Hotspots, the state of Victoria has indeed proved its prowess with its solid ranking and performance.
The figures from the report pertain to the fasting growing metropolitan and regional areas in the 2011-12 financial year.
What is named a "hotspot" is an area where the rate of population growth exceeds the national rate, and the value of residential building work approved is above $100 million.
"Over the past year, Victoria has consolidated its hold on the national Hotspots chart. The state now accounts for exactly one half of the national top twenty and appears four times in Australia’s top ten," said HIA Victorian executive director, Gil King.
Victoria is home to ten of the nation's twenty top hotspots, with all of these also being in the greater Melbourne area.
In the 2011-12 report, Victoria's number one hotspot was Tarneit in Melbourne-West, replacing Whittlesea at number one, which previously had been crowned the winner for three consecutive years.
Population growth in 2011-12 was swift at 15.8 per cent and residential building approvals were valued at approximately $140 million - reflected in houses for sale.
"Despite these optimistic results, we must also be conscious of the wider context. Home building in Victoria is falling sharply even though the population continues to increase. This places the onus very much on policymakers, at both state and Commonwealth level to ensure activity doesn’t fall through the floor," said Mr King.
This is unsurprising as the real estate industry all across Australia has been suffering harsh conditions and contractions, but may currently be showing cautious signs of an ease in circumstances.
