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25/04/2007
Darwin booming housing sector has slumped after two years of unprecedented growth, reports the Sunday Territorian...
New home loan applications, building approvals, new housing construction and loans for renovations in Darwin have all fallen to their lowest levels since at least June 2004.
Housing Association Industry NT general manager Graham Kemp said the slump was expected after the huge growth in Darwin's housing sector over the past three years.
"We are seeing the market slow down but that's levelling out after starting from a very high point," he said.
"It's the lull we had to have after operating at dizzying heights for a prolonged period. But the continuing growth of the mining and resources sectors will mean the outlook remains strong for Darwin's housing sector in the longer term.
"For both established and new house prices there are only two cities in Australia enjoying strong growth and they are Darwin and Perth.
"This growth is being driven by the resources boom generating strong economic conditions."
Lack of large scale projects to blame?
The HIA NT expects new housing starts for 2006/07 to drop by 6 per cent after a 26 per cent rise over the past three years.
"Approvals have been trending down for four months, from a very high base, signalling some easing in construction," Mr Kemp said. "The number of commencements can bounce around quite a bit and tends to do so relatively more in smaller markets."
Loans for renovations to the 12 months to January have dropped 10 per cent following a 50 per cent jump the previous year.
The engineering construction forecast for the Northern Territory this financial year is also down 30 per cent -- at $1.24 billion -- compared to 2005/06.
Forecasters attribute this slump to the lack of large-scale projects, such as Gove's $2.4 billion Alcan alumina refinery expansion which is nearing completion.
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