Docklands growth is “hot”

By Niccola Anthony

Docklands has been named as a national “hotspot” in the Housing Industry Association’s (HIA) 2018 report on Population and Residential Building Hotspots.

The report identifies Australia’s fastest growing towns, cities and regions for the 2016/17 financial year.

Hotspots are defined as those areas currently enjoying “a combination of strong population growth as well as high levels of residential building”.

For an area to qualify as a “hotspot”, there must be more than $150 million worth of residential building work approved in the financial year and the area’s rate of population growth must be greater than the national average.

Docklands came in at seventh on the list, with almost $200 million worth of building works approved in the 2016/17 financial year, and an annual population growth rate of 14.7 per cent.

Docklands also made the Building Momentum Shortlist in the report, which identifies areas that are likely to qualify as hotspots in next year’s HIA report.

“The Docklands is still drawing in additional population growth as the mix of housing in the area changes to higher density living,” the report’s summary states.

“With a large volume of work still to be commenced, no downturn evident in approvals and population growth still exceeding 2 per cent, Melbourne and its surrounding areas are still likely to produce many Hotspots for building activity going into 2019.”