Meriton Apartments is the busiest builder in Queensland as new homes starts plunge
Queensland builders have been hammered over the past year with new home starts plunging 11 per cent and almost all the big firms losing ground. | SEE THE LIST
City Beat
Don't miss out on the headlines from City Beat. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Billionaire Harry Triguboff’s apartment powerhouse Meriton was the busiest builder in Queensland over the past 12 months when new dwelling starts plunged 11 per cent in the wake of construction cost increases and interest rate rises.
The HIA-Colorbond Housing 100 ranked NSW-based Metriton Apartments the top builder in the Sunshine State with 1341 home starts in 2022-23 compared to 757 in the previous year when it was in fifth place.
Apartment specialists Hutchies was second with 1332 new starts, after being first last year with 3003, while Metricon Homes fell to third from second last year, Henley Properties trading as Plantation Homes rose five places to fourth and NXT Building Group dropped back a place to be fifth.
Sunshine Coast builder franchisor GJ Garner Homes came eighth after being seventh the year before.
Drilling down into the Queensland figures, there were 34,938 new dwelling starts compared to 39,230 the year before while the market share for the largest 20 builders fell from 33 per cent to 28 per cent. Nationally, HIA research found the top 100 builders recorded 57,830 residential property starts in 2022-23, down almost 23 per cent from 74,973 in the previous 12 months.
HIA chief economist Tim Reardon says the lower numbers reflected the challenging conditions facing the industry over the last year.
“In 2021 and 2022 the industry grappled with a rapid escalation in the cost of construction, with materials in short supply and acute shortages of skilled workers,” he says.
“Throughout 2022-23 the industry faced the added challenge of rapidly rising interest rates. While there has been a heavy focus on the impact of higher borrowing rates on households with mortgages and the effect on demand for new homes, the higher borrowing costs also put further pressure on business margins during the year.”
Metricon chief executive Brad Duggan said the company’s strategic focus was very much about being the best, rather than the biggest.
“More than 90 families every week chose to commence building with Metricon in the past year, trusting us with the most important purchase of their lives,” he said of the company’s national performance.
He said nationally there has been a decrease of 1276 Metricon site starts compared to 2021-22 figures, which aligns with pre-pandemic levels and closely mirrors Metricon’s forecast and planning for the next three years.
“We believe that volume home builders like Metricon play a critical role in keeping house pricing in Australia at affordable levels and in helping solve the current housing shortage across the country,” he said.
“Homes are not going to get any cheaper, so we are constantly working on smart designs and specifications to address affordability.”
NXT managing director Andrew Helmers expects the number of building starts to continue to slow across 2024.
“Our brands are maintaining or growing their market share while the total number starts is in decline,” he said.
“The industry is still facing labour challenges across a number of trades including scaffolding, plasterboard and tiling. While some suppliers are still struggling to deliver materials.”
Mums the word
Big shout out the mother of three Samantha Miklos who founded Cornerstone Medical Recruitment more than a decade ago with husband Norbert.
Despite the nation facing a shortage of healthcare workers and high job volume, the Fortitude Valley-based business negotiated plenty of challenges along the way.
Focusing on “deeper” specialist areas the medical recruitment company more than doubled its profit margins in the last financial year.
In recognition of CMR’s success Samantha, won big at the recent AusMumpreneur Awards, going home with not only the Business Excellence award, but also the top gong of AusMumpreneur of the Year.
Connections
The Asia Pacific Cities Summit and Mayors’ Forum returns this October, bringing one of the largest and most diverse gatherings of mayors and delegates from over 140 cities to Brisbane.
Now in its 27th year, the award-winning biennial event is shared between Brisbane and offshore host cities and is set to bring a multimillion-dollar boost to Brisbane’s economy.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says the event will focus on several topics including shaping cities, sustainability, business expansion and tourism benefits.
“Each year, the APCS event aims to connect leaders across government, business, and industry to identify common challenges, exchange knowledge and drive commercial outcomes,” he says.
“The decisions and partnerships formed during this event will impact more than half a billion people worldwide, making it the ultimate networking event here in Brisbane.”
The 2023 theme ‘Shaping Cities for the Future’ will be the key discussion point among the keynote speakers on show, including Canadian award-winning author Charles Montgomery, Korean-Australian two-time world champion debater and former Harvard debate team coach, Bo Seo, and President of the Organising Committee for Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Andrew Liveris.
In the pink: Hot property helps fund breast cancer research
Professionals Real Estate has marked a corporate philanthropic partnership that has delivered $4.5m to support lifesaving research into breast cancer over two decades.
Hospital foundation racks up $11.2m for sick children
The Children’s Hospital Foundation has completed a successful year that saw $11.2 million invested into direct help for sick children and young people across Queensland.