The Australian residential sector is experiencing a shortage of skilled tradespeople, according to data from the latest Austral Bricks Trades Report by the Housing Industry Association.
The shortage has spread across all trades in the residential sector and regions, according to the HIA, Australia’s largest building industry organisation.
According to HIA’s chief economist, Harley Dale, there was a shortage of workers in 10 out of 13 skilled trades at the closing of 2009, an increase from the shortage in eight trades in the September quarter. Meanwhile, trade rates seem to be on the rise, even if they still remain lower than 2008.
"Price pressure is still modest and trade availability, while deteriorating, is still considerably better than it was up until late 2008,” commented Dale, adding that “it is a favourable time to build a new home or renovate an existing property.”
"The clock is ticking, however, given the competition across different sectors in 2010 for a limited pool of skilled labour. There is a clear risk that labour shortages will re-emerge as a significant constraint on the rate of recovery in both new home building and renovations by the middle of this year,” said the economist.
