Tradies are keeping the economy upright – for now
Building and construction is moving in the right direction but still faces enormous challenges as we head towards end of the National Housing Accord’s first anniversary.
CONSTRUCTION is the only area of the economy that showed a glimmer of light in the latest trade data, the Master Builders Australia claims.
The peak building and construction industry association highlighted their work after new national account figures showed a significant slowdown.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth slowed to just 0.2 per cent in the March 2025 quarter, the weakest result in almost a year, according to the figures released by the ABS.
But building and construction activity expanded by 2.2 per cent, making it a standout performer.
Without the contribution from the industry, Australia’s economy would have slipped backward into negative territory.
Master Builders Australia Chief Economist Shane Garrettsaid within the construction industry, residential building racked up the strongest gain (+2.6 per cent) during the quarter.
“Demand for home renovations was particularly strong,” he said.
“Non-residential building delivered a 2.1 per cent uplift during the quarter, while engineering construction gained 1.5 per cent.
“The improved performance of construction activity coincided in the same quarter as the Reserve Bank of Australia’s initial interest rate cut, giving confidence a much-needed boost.
“But momentum won’t last without targeted reform to lift productivity.
“Even though building and construction is moving in the right direction, it still faces an enormous challenge with next month marking the end of the National Housing Accord’s first year.
“We are still building homes at a far slower rate than what’s needed to hit the Accord target.
“We can only do this by rapidly addressing our industry’s severe productivity problems and allowing our industry workforce to expand.”
Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn added the new Federal Government needs to help the industry do what it does best: build.
“That means cutting red tape, boosting skills pipelines, and fixing broken planning systems.
“Builders are doing the heavy lifting for the economy, now it’s time for the policy settings to do the same.
