Amid a difficult economic climate, the building and construction industry welcomes the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to pause interest rates today, says Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn.

“Interest rate rises coupled with rising inflation have forced building and construction activity and new homes sales to slow sharply over...

In February, new loans for owner occupiers to build a home fell 4.8% to 2732 in seasonally adjusted terms, which is the lowest in Australian Bureau of Statistics records that go back to 2002. This has exacerbated Australia’s housing crisis at a time when builders are more vulnerable than ever...

The ABS has released February 2023 data for building approvals and lending figures.

Master Builders Australia chief economist Shane Garrett says there was a 4.0 per cent increase in the number of new homes approved during February 2023. Detached house building approvals drove the improvement with a gain of 11.3...

Today’s monthly inflation indicator for February 2023 is another reminder of how we risk entrenching inflation without appropriately addressing supply-side hurdles, says Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn.

“The annual rate of inflation has eased back to 6.8 per cent, down from 7.4 per cent in January. While this is...

Key points:

• The Australian government has extended the HomeBuilder grant deadline to June 30, 2025 
• Labour shortages and supply chain issues caused construction delays, risking homeowners missing the grant deadline.
• The extension of the HomeBuilder scheme is only applicable to already approved homeowners who have received formal approval, subject to...

During the months of December 2022, January, and February 2023, the Association undertook active discussion with the Building Industry in NSW to develop a "Policy Priorities Document" for the upcoming State Election.

The priorities for the building and construction industry in NSW were established through direct communication with building...

The NSW Government is standing firm on its commitment to make developers, designers and engineers lift their game and restore public confidence in the building industry, with the Government’s landmark industry reforms set to be expanded to include more buildings.

Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Victor Dominello said...

Fair Trading recently received a question from the Master Plumbers regarding waterproofing and the Design and Building Practitioners Act. 

Question
“Not sure if this (the DBPA) would affect us in any way, or if it affects the shower rebuilds or re waterproofing etc? Currently, we investigate water leaks and diagnose the...

From 13 February 2023, building practitioners must lodge a copy of the fire safety certificate on the NSW Planning Portal when submitting a building compliance declaration under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020. 

To support this new requirement, building owners must now also provide the fire safety certificate to...