Home builders are consolidating as the post-pandemic disruption subsides. They are looking to better tap the growing demand for detached homes and to gain strength in the low-margin, cyclical sector, which accounts for almost two-thirds of new homes.

ASX-listed Simonds Group last week said it would pay $10 million to buy the contracts and designs of rival Dennis Family Homes. Simonds executive chairman Rhett Simonds told The Australian Financial Review the deal would boost revenue of the country’s 10th-largest builder by a third as demand improves.