Rising costs putting builders under pressure

The ACT's building industry has signalled it is feeling the pressure as consumers shy away from putting money into housing.

Bureau of Statistics figures released yesterday show owner-occupied housing finance commitments in the ACT fell 8 per cent during May, seasonally adjusted.

Executive director of Master Builders ACT John Miller says the latest figures are another blow for builders already struggling with higher petrol and material costs.

"There's still work on the books for the next few months," he said.

"It'll be what happens in the next six to 12 months after that so I think we'll have to wait and see what comes of that period.

"These things put pressure on people and they need to have enough work on their books to sustain their operations and businesses.

"If it starts to fall even further we could be finding people, you know, will find it very difficult to maintain their presence here."

Mr Miller says successive interest rate rises and cost pressures are hitting home.

He expects the housing market will tighten further.

"We know we need more homes here and this is certainly slowing things down again," he said.

"But over the coming months we can expect the housing market will tighten even further over the next few months.

"Clearly people don't have the confidence, both owner-occupied and in investment side of things, to get out there and build and I think they want to see a few more signs in terms of stability regarding interest rates and other costs at the moment before they make those decisions."

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Thu 10th July 2008 - 03:36pm