Australia’s construction industry is headed for “a lot more pain” as tearaway inflation in materials, labour and rain delays worsen devastating losses on fixed-price contracts, just as the pipeline of new work dries up and competition intensifies.

Builders behind more than 5200 homes, worth at least a collective $2.2 billion, have collapsed since 2021 and the official insolvency figures released on Tuesday show failures in construction have hit a nine-year high, just short of the decade record of 1802.