The FWPA Statistics & Economics Program Webinar Series, held in May and June 2024, focused on housing affordability and housing supply issues, and how the construction and timber industries are addressing them. The timber industry is well-known for its association with housing construction. Recent data on ABS building activities and FWPA timber sales volume showed that there was a linear relationship between housing completion and sales of timber products.
Housing affordability worsened in 2023 when interest rates rose, on average, by 125 basis points. This rise affected many Australians, including mortgage holders, first-home buyers, renters, and builders. Now, as housing demand continues to rise amid a supply shortage, this new report and associated webinar series outline key discussion points around how the timber industry can play a pivotal role in supporting the government targets for new housing construction.
Webinar 1 | Australia’s Future Housing Affordability:
Webinar 1 covered a discussion around the housing crisis as a result of the long-term imbalance between supply and demand, the trend in dwelling supply related to migration intake and population projection, and the capacity and constraint of relevant industries (construction and timber) to address the supply issue.
Key takeaways:
- House and residential unit median prices have continued to climb in major cities and regional areas. With the current economic indicators, the supply of new residential houses and units will remain an issue.
- Annual population growth from natural increases is declining. Some key factors include the high life expectancy and the ongoing trend to smaller household sizes (people living longer but with fewer children). This creates a trajectory of population growth below the replacement rate. The annual migration intake plays a crucial role in balancing the population and providing the required skilled workforce to maintain economic growth and housing supply.
- Social housing needs to increase, including public and community housing provided and managed by government and non-government organisations. The strategy to address future housing affordability involves all instruments related to housing, including market approach and government interventions.
Webinar 2 | Timber Supply Chain Challenges and Opportunities in the Future of Sustainable Housing:
Webinar 2 covered contributions and innovations from the timber industry to build more houses by providing a technological approach to housing and low- and mid-rise residential constructions.
Key takeaways:
- The timber market heavily relies on the housing sector, and the timber industry closely examines dynamic factors that influence demand, such as immigration, rental stock and household size.
- The timber industry has the capacity to build more homes, aligning with the planned increase of 1.2 million houses in the next five years.
- The timber and construction industries have followed best practices in applying modern methods of construction (MMC). This process is proven to be efficient, cost-effective and sustainable for building houses and low or mid-rise residential buildings.
- The timber industry has actively responded to housing construction demand for innovation in frame and truss portfolios.
- A range of residential building projects using engineering wood products (EWP) has shown the effectiveness of using timber products that are faster, cheaper and more sustainable than those used in conventional projects. including market approach and government interventions.
Webinar 3 | Bridging the Housing Issues and the Timber Industry:
Webinar 3 discussed housing issues from the perspective of stakeholders (timber and housing associations, policy experts). The discussion reviewed current housing programs, including potential barriers and incentives for the timber industry to support the programs.
Key takeaways:
- Affordability and household tenure have changed over the past three decades. Factors include declining outright ownership, a slowing increase in mortgage owners, increasing private renter households, declining social housing, and increasing income and wealth inequality.
- A pluralistic approach is required to recognise the complexity of construction and timber industries and market interventions from governments.
- From the stakeholder’s perspective (housing association), skilled worker reform is needed to build 1.2 million houses.
- To support the realisation of additional houses, a greater take-up of modular and prefabricated timber dwellings must be encouraged with the specifications allowing faster building approval.
