Source: AAP Image/ Mick Tsikas
It’s a tough time to build or renovate a house in Australia. Prices are up, well above inflation. Finding materials and getting them on time is a challenge. Builders are grappling with too much work and stress (with some folding as costs rise too fast). Customers are being confronted with eye-watering price quotes.
And as any would-be home builder or renovator knows, the price of timber or steel is crucial.
So what exactly is happening here, and what’s the outlook?
Timber: Huge demand, not enough supply
According a 2021 Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) report:
Average annual hardwood log availability is forecast to be 1 million cubic metres (9%) lower over 2020-24 than 2015-19 […] softwood sawlog availability is projected to be 10% lower in the period of 2020-24 than was projected in 2015.
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