Beyond Metricon: Who built Australia’s 70,000 new homes?
Australia’s top residential builders expanded their combined output by 9.4 per cent in 2025/26, breaking past 70,000 new housing starts for the first time in four years, according to the latest HIA-COLORBOND steel Housing 100 report released today.
The top 100 residential builders commenced 70,553 homes over the 12-month period – up from 64,481 in 2024/25 and representing 35pc of new residential starts nationwide.
Sumitomo Forestry Australia was the clear winner with 8038 starts.
It owns Metricon, Henley, Wisdom, and Scott Park Group.
The the broader list revealed notable shifts across both detached housing and multi-unit sectors.
Top National Builders
Western Australian-headquartered ABN Group retained its position as Australia’s second-largest builder with 3764 dwelling starts.
It is behind brands including Boutique Homes and Celebration Homes.
NEX Building Group, rose from fourth to third, with 3585 starts.
It is parent company of McDonald Jones Homes and Brighton Homes.
It develops across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, and the ACT (continues below).
Movers & Shakers
- Homecorp Constructions logged the biggest leap on the 2025/26 table, jumping 18 places from 31st to 13th;
- Hutchies surged into the top ten overall, rising from 14th to 8th, while also holding the third spot for multi-unit builders.
- Parkview Constructions claimed the title of Australia’s largest multi-unit builder with 2735 starts, edging out Harry Triguboff’s Meriton Apartments, which took second spot in the multi-unit category with 2324 starts.
Meriton edged out
Growth across the industry was unevenly spread, dominated by a strong rebound in detached housing while high-density construction remained relatively flat:
- Detached Housing: rose 11pc to 52,058 starts.
- Semi-Detached & Townhouses: increased 14pc to 7,397 starts.
- Multi-Unit / Apartments: edged up 1pc to 11,098 starts.
HIA Chief Economist Tim Reardon said that the largest apartment developers drifted down the overall list as detached home builders capitalised on a strong sales pipeline generated through late 2025 and early 2026.
Outlook
Despite the 2025/26 volume surge, HIA warned that conditions heading into 2027 present a tougher environment.
“The results show that Australia’s home builders responded to improving market conditions and increased the supply of new homes,” Mr Reardon said. “The concern is that the conditions which produced this increase have changed significantly during 2026”.
Recent rate adjustments and shifts in property tax settings have slowed sales through mid-2026, a lag that is expected to weigh on overall commencement volumes in the coming 12 months despite ongoing underlying housing demand, he added.
Below the top 20 of 100 builders:
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