Labour and material supply issues normalising a positive sign for Great Southern, says Master Builders WA

There are positive signs construction projects in the region will be carried out at a more “normalised” pace over the coming 12 months, according to Master Builders WA. MBWA executive director John Gelavis said the easing of issues causing a shortage of materials and labour would help building supply catch up to demand. He said he expected a “slowing in building commencements” in the second half of the year. “While monetary policy using interest rate rises is starting to show fruits in putting downward pressure on the demand side, more needs to be done to tackle the supply-side bottlenecks relating to material, labour and housing supply,” he said. “We acknowledge that the Reserve Bank has a difficult balancing approach to take in curbing inflation but at the same time not getting too ahead of the realised impact of their decisions.” Mr Gelavis said that while demand for housing across WA had shown signs of softening as stimulus packages wound up, he expected it to remain “solid” throughout the Great Southern and Albany. He said the region was “predominantly made up of residential builders”, but that its commercial builders were “extremely busy with private and government work”. “Skilled trade availability continues to be an issue right across the State including the Great Southern region, especially through the last 18 months due to the heightened levels of activity,” he said. “This should improve as the market normalises; however, the Great Southern region has a strong and capable reputation buoyed by skilled trade contractors.” Many construction projects in the region have been slowed by material supply issues. Mr Gelavis said those issues were still present, but that they were “easing with the normalising of building activity”. He said the most sustainable solution to ease building supply issues was to bring down the cost of doing business. “That requires issues like labour shortages, materials costs and the regulatory burden to be dealt with in a focused and urgent manner,” he said. “Labour shortages can best be addressed over the short and medium term by making it easier for migrants to work in Australia.” “The bottlenecks in our migration system need to be addressed as a matter of priority.”