Qld housing crisis: Developers warn ‘no cranes left’ unless Labor acts now
Industry experts fear SEQ’s tier one builders have an open chequebook with the government and are “not even returning calls” from developers making residential projects financially unviable.
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Developers are calling on the state Labor government to act now or “there will be no cranes left in the sky” as new figures reveal a staggering jump in construction costs and time blowouts across South East Queensland.
One of the state’s peak industry bodies has revealed there has been a 96 per cent rise in construction costs compared to pre-Covid (2019) rates, and a 73 per cent increase in the time taken to complete a project.
The research by the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) also found South East Queensland apartment numbers will fall short by almost 150,000 by the end of the Labor government’s ShapingSEQ plan.
UDIA Queensland CEO Kirsty Chessher-Brown said apartment developers were facing the most severe construction conditions ever, with new apartment project prospects dwindling as projects failed to stack up.
“With the Queensland housing crisis already severe, we need all levels of government to act now,” Ms Chessher-Brown said in an email to members.
“Nobody wants to believe the housing crisis could get worse, but these figures say it will.”
The UDIA report found that on average since 2020, South East Queensland has produced about 4,764 apartments a year, which is 5,946 fewer than required under ShapingSEQ. If this shortfall continues for the life of the plan, there will be a shortfall of 148,660 apartments, the research found.
Max Panettiere of Panettiere Developments said the city’s ‘tier one’ builders and labourers were tied up with government infrastructure, leaving residential projects financially unviable.
“All the tier ones are not taking on residential work because they’ve got an open chequebook with the government,” Mr Panettiere said.
“If you’re a traditional developer where you tender for a builder, they’re not even returning calls.
“Basically, you have EBA workers on tier one jobs, and with their rates and site allowance, they’re earning more than $200,000 a year. The bigger the project, the bigger the site allowance.”
Mr Panettiere, who has just lodged an application with Brisbane City Council for a 1000-unit development in Newstead, said the state government needed to step in or the housing crisis would worsen.
“The government needs to get involved by incentivising developers and builders, otherwise nothing will be built,” he said.
“We used to build units for between $650,000 and $800,000 per unit. Now, you’re looking at $1.2 to $1.4 million for the same unit. The numbers don’t work.
“In six months, there won’t be a crane in the inner city skyline unless things change.”
Property Council Queensland executive director Jess Caire said it “has never been harder to get projects to stack up here in Queensland”.
Ms Caire said Property Council figures showed residential projects were taking about 30 per cent longer and costing 30 to 40 per cent more.
“The targets set in the recently released Housing Plan are ambitious but necessary, so we need to clear all barriers that block the delivery of homes to Queenslanders,” she said.
“For industry that’s a holistic review of the regulatory and taxation settings that obstruct new supply to market.”
It comes as new report by Master Builders Association says the Queensland government’s $92bn Big Build pipeline of projects across health, energy and transport over the next five years is making high-rise residential projects economically unviable due to a lack of workers and supply constraints.
The report also warned the state’s pro-union “best practice industry conditions” — which apply to major government projects — would be a challenge, as it ties up labour on builds that take longer to complete due to falls in productivity.
But Master Builders’ latest building and construction forecast shows Queensland will not hit the estimated yearly target until mid-2026.
It means the state will be nearly 5000 homes short of 246,000 dwellings.
Ms Chessher-Brown said the UDIA was working with bodies such as Master Builders to put to government solutions, ranging from increased levels of inter and intra-government
co-operation with industry, investment in trades and skilling, and a productivity reset
involving a review of the impact of government red tape on the cost of housing.
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