The time taken to build new homes and apartments has reached unprecedented levels, with new data revealing significant blowouts in construction timeframes across Australia.
Master Builders Australia’s analysis of ABS data shows it now takes nearly 13 months to complete a detached house, compared to just 9 months fifteen years ago.
Apartment construction has seen even more dramatic increases, with completion times rising from 18.5 months to over 33 months—an 80 per cent increase.
The industry is grappling with multiple challenges, including severe labour shortages and declining productivity, which has fallen by 18 per cent over the past decade.
Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn said these delays are having serious implications for housing supply.
“With advancements in technology and construction methods, we should be building homes faster, not slower,” Ms Wawn said.
She said there were several key issues affecting the industry’s productivity.
“There are a range of contributing factors including labour shortages, declining productivity, union pattern agreements, supply chain disruptions, complex regulatory requirements, occupational certificate backlogs and critical infrastructure delays,” she said.
She said being able to hold onto workers was an issue that is plaguing the sector.
“We know there’s 8 per cent of people leaving the industry, but only 4 per cent replacement, so the industry really needs to look at retention,” Ms Wawn said.
She said thre is a need for cultural change in how trades are perceived.
“Stop treating kids going into trades as though they’re second-class citizens,” she said.
“It is a huge opportunity, very well paid, and guess what?
“You get paid to train rather than incurring a HECS debt.”
She said this is about a cultural change amongst parents around what is the best for their kids.
“We hear story after story of kids saying, I want to do TAFE, but the parents saying, no, no, you’ve got to go to university,” she said.
