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{{propApi.successMessage}} {{region}} Change locationTrade shortages persist as demand for new homes accelerates
Trade shortages persist as demand for new homes accelerates
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The HIA Trades Report released today provides a quarterly review of the availability of skilled trades and any demand pressures on trades operating in the residential building industry.
“While the severity of shortages varies across Australian markets, all capital city and regional areas are experiencing a consequential shortfall in skilled trades, which is acting as a significant constraint on new home building,” added Mr King.
The HIA Trades Availability Index worsened to -0.54 in the September quarter 2024, compared to -0.49 in the previous quarter.
“The new home building industry is in stiff competition for workers with buoyant non-residential construction activity and a historic Commonwealth Government-funded engineering construction project pipeline.
“Meanwhile, as home building market confidence returns and owner-occupiers and investors increasingly re-enter the market; there’s been an acceleration in demand particularly in Perth, Southeast Queensland and Adelaide.
“The confidence is largely brought about by the fact that the RBA hasn’t increased interest rates for almost a year, population growth is still strong, the unemployment rate remains low and real incomes have stabilised.
“Yet Australia does not currently have enough tradies to build the number of homes needed to house the population and take pressure off housing costs.
“Trades prices are running at an annual growth rate of 3.4 per cent, which is much higher than the 2.0 per cent average over the decade prior to the pandemic.
“The residential building industry currently employs approximately 278,000 tradies across the twelve key trade occupations required for home building. The trades workforce needs to grow by at least 30 per cent to meet a 1.2 million home target over the next 5 years. That is over 83,000 additional tradies.
“The most acute shortages of skilled tradespeople remain in bricklaying, tiling, plastering and carpentry.
“This means a significant boost is needed in a variety of trade occupations to get these much-needed homes completed.
“Despite concerted efforts to boost the domestic trades workforce, significant challenges remain. Creating career opportunities for the local workforce must be the priority, however this alone will not solve the tradie shortage.
“Skilled migration is the other key lever that the Government can pull in the short term to address the immediate shortage of tradies.
“Decisive action to support the sourcing of skilled trades domestically and from overseas is needed now, and a failure to act proportionate to the growing skills shortage risks only worsening the national housing shortage,” concluded Mr King.
For a copy of HIA’s All Hands on Deck report, which outlines the requirement for 83,000 workers to achieve the National Housing Accord Target.
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