Residential property investment plunged by nearly 11% during the 2009 financial year, as the global financial crisis caused listed companies to shelve projects and residential developers blamed government red tape for a lack of new homes built.

Yesterday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics' figures on the country's national GDP expenditure for fiscal 2009 revealed dwelling investment slumped a seasonally adjusted 10.9 per cent. In the June quarter it dived 5.5 per cent.

Senior manager for building and construction for BIS Shrapnel, Jason Anderson, said housing or commercial property investment was unlikely to improve for the September quarter.

The Australian