The ABS released the Australian National Accounts yesterday which reported that GDP increased by 0.8 per cent during the quarter to be 1.8 per cent higher than a year ago.
“Solid growth in home renovations activity contributed to a pick up in the pace of economic growth in the June 2017 quarter,” Housing Industry Association’s senior economist. Shane Garrett said.
“Today’s figures indicate that renovations activity grew by 2.2 per cent during the June 2017 quarter, eclipsing the contraction of 0.8 per cent in new dwelling construction over the same period.
“The contraction in new dwelling construction is from the record highs achieved in 2016 and a large backlog of work is still to be completed.
“We expect this decline in new dwelling construction to continue for a number of years.
“Sustained growth in renovations activity will be a welcome antidote to the substantial downturn in new home building that we predict to unfold until 2019,” Mr Garrett said.
