Australia’s residential housing industry is entering a period of significant opportunity, with strong demand for new homes continuing to drive activity across the country. As the sector evolves, there is growing focus on building a more forward-thinking industry that can better support Australia’s future housing needs. 

The key to achieving this lies in taking a long-term view of housing delivery and recognising how interconnected every part of the housing supply chain is. Because stimulating one part does not necessarily increase homes delivered, we should not consider each one independently. 

For instance, HIA welcomed the announcement of productivity reforms and measures to reduce bottlenecks in the recent federal budget. Faster approvals, infrastructure coordination and national construction reforms are positive outcomes for our members.

Stronger housing pipeline

One of the most important areas is ensuring a steady pipeline of land supply that allows the industry to meet demand consistently. Housing delivery works as a complete supply chain, where every stage plays an important role in keeping projects moving seamlessly. You’re only as quick or as slow as your weakest link.

This means governments, industry and regulators all need to work together to create a more streamlined pathway from land development through to completed homes. Planning systems, finance, infrastructure and construction all need to align if Australia is going to continue delivering housing at the scale required.

At the same time, the residential housing industry has a major opportunity to improve efficiency by simplifying approval processes. Ideally, we want one house, one approval. We need to remove the red tape, green tape and all the other tapes associated with building.

Sustainable building businesses

While the broader industry continues evolving, builders and subcontractors also need to focus on creating financially sustainable businesses. Builders are working incredibly hard. They’re managing projects all day, then handling administration and business operations after hours.

Understanding the true cost of running a business, however, has become increasingly important. Money is made or lost at the time of signing your contract. You’ve got to understand your real costs – not just building costs, but the cost of operating your business.

That includes understanding timeframes, project delays and the impact they can have on cash flow and profitability. You might be making a profit, but whether you make it in one month or six months makes a big difference.

One of the biggest challenges for builders is finding time to step back and focus on improving their businesses rather than simply reacting to daily issues. Builders are always dealing with urgent, important issues. But there may be a structural problem within their processes that keeps creating the issue.

That’s why HIA encourages builders to seek outside expertise where needed, whether through financial advisers, consultants or specialist contractors. It’s about thinking two, three or four weeks ahead instead of only focusing on today.