Building industry facing challenges

THE building and construction industry in Australia is facing challenges in meeting housing targets, according to the latest forecast released by Master Builders Australia.

The forecast shows that housing starts are below the 200,000 per annum needed between 2022 and 2025 and dips to its lowest over 2022-23 before rebounding in 2026-27.

The current environment is difficult for the industry, marked by rising interest rates, robust cost pressures, and labour shortages. Despite these challenges, the total volume of construction activity grew modestly by 1.5% to $215.1B during 2021-22.

Detached housing and renovations are stable or steadily growing, but medium to high density remains hardest hit.

This segment is more sensitive to interest rate fluctuations and is still recovering from the absence of inward migration over the past three years. The challenge is to put downward pressure on building and construction costs to increase output.

Master Builders Australia vacuum and polish the Volvos, Mercedes and other high-end cars, trucks and buses they service.

“We know the people we hire from NOVA want to learn, do a good job, they ask questions and, that’s a good start,” said Jai, who currently employs four workers with disability.

CEO Denita Wawn said that the current challenges relate to supply of housing, workforce shortages, bottlenecks in the market for key building materials and products, and increased costs from regulatory changes.

To address these pressures, Master Builders recommends responses around housing supply, the construction workforce, supply chain risk and cost pressures, simplifying regulatory settings, and providing taxation settings that support investment in housing and productivity.

If you need staff, NOVA Employment may be reached via 1300 ABILITY ( 1300 224 5489 ) and novaemployment.com.au