Australia will struggle to achieve its 1.2 million new homes target because competition for key trades and skills from the higher-paying infrastructure sector is depriving residential construction of the capacity it desperately needs, developers and builders say.
Longer term, the country had to expand its skills base, Mr Hopkins said. Australian construction needed 500,000 more workers by November 2026 – with ACT alone needing 7000 more people – and that could only be done by improving vocational training and encouraging more women into construction, he said.plans to spend one-third of a planned $80 billion in infrastructureBig hole, big demand: the Snowy 2.
The cost of plastering soared 21 per cent in the September quarter from June, the Housing Industry Association’s latest“Everyone’s busy,” said Wayne Fornari, the director of WB Fornari Interior Linings, a Sydney-based plastering company.“There’s so much construction, big high-rise construction in Queensland and Melbourne. A lot of our workers have gone to these areas.”
Queensland-based contractor BMD Group makes one-third of its revenue from land development services, which include putting down roads and installing drainage, water services, sewerage and electrical infrastructure for land rezoned for housing development.