The chief executive of building products group James Hardie says he expects volumes to drop by about 5 per cent in Australia over the next year in a difficult market where high house prices are curbing demand.

The company’s shares slumped 14.8 per cent to $46.67 on Tuesday as it forecast that annual profits in its global operations over the next 12 months would fall amid an uncertain outlook in each of its major markets. This caused more than $3.5 billion to vanish from James Hardie’s market value by the close on the ASX.