The time taken to build a home has blown out to more than a year in most states, prompting a warning from Master Builders Australia.
CEO Denita Wawn said recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed it now took, on average, 12.7 months to build a home in Australia.
Ms Wawn said 15 years ago it took nine months, which represented an increase of more than 40 percent.
She said the blowout was greater for apartment buildings with an average of 18.5 months, from approval to completion, growing to 33.3 months, an increase of 80 per cent, over that time.
“These extended construction timeframes are impacting the industry’s ability to meet housing demand and tackle the housing crisis.
“With advancements in technology and construction methods, we should be building homes faster, not slower.”
Ms Wawn said there were 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.
“As a result, we’ve seen productivity decline by 18 percent over the last decade.
“Productivity is more than an economic buzzword. This data proves what happens in a construction environment without meaningful reform,” Ms Wawn said.
She said action was needed to address bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the construction process.
“Streamlining regulatory approval processes, encouraging adoption of digital solutions, introducing incentives to grow the workforce through domestic and international means and strengthening the domestic supply chain are just some examples,” Ms Wawn said.
Access the full ABS dataset.
