Melbourne is the strongest city in Australia for home building growth with 12 of the nation’s home construction hotspots, an annual review shows.

Top overall is the Mickleham Yuroke area of Melbourne with $222.9 million worth of building approvals and population growth of 35.3%, according to the 2018 population and residential building hotspots report from the Housing Industry Association (HIA).

‘With a large volume of work still to be commenced, no downturn evident in approvals, and population growth still exceeding 2%, Melbourne and its surrounding areas are likely to produce many Hotspots for building activity going into 2019,’ said HIA senior economist Shane Garrett.

Pimpana on the Gold Coast slipped to second place this year with Melbourne’s Cranbourne East area in third position nationally.

‘The remarkable performance of Melbourne in this year’s Hotspots report demonstrates how well the circle of job creation, population growth and new home building can boost an economy,’ Garrett explained.

A breakdown of the figures show that 12 of the top 20 hotspots are located in Victoria, four in New South Wales and four in Queensland.

Nationally, an area qualifies as a hotspot if at least $150 million worth of residential building work was approved during the 2016/2017 financial year, and its rate of population growth is faster than the national average.

The research also shows that a number of Sydney’s Western and South Western suburbs are also on the move. There are large pipelines of new housing in Leppington, Parramatta and Blacktown.

In Queensland, the South Eastern corner is the focus of activity. Population growth in the South East has accelerated over the past year, indicating that Queensland is starting to see solid employment gains, according to the analysis.

Coomera is also a regular on the hotspots list, joined by South Brisbane where the apartment boom has resulted in significant approvals and population growth.

Via propertywire.com