Surging building materials and labour costs and inexorable creep in bills for energy efficiency and other levies have made it incredibly difficult to build housing for anyone apart from older downsizers and wealthy Baby Boomers, big developers say.
In some cases, taxes and other charges put in place by local, state and federal governments now accounted for as much as 40 per cent of the cost of a new home, said Carolyn Viney, the former chief executive of Grocon who now runs another developer, Assemble.
Michael Bleby covers commercial and residential property, with a focus on housing and finance, construction, design & architecture. He also dabbles in the business of sport. Michael is based in Melbourne. Connect with Michael on Twitter. Email Michael at mbleby@afr.com
