Around Australia – and elsewhere in the world – employers, commentators and Treasurers are bemoaning labour shortages as economies wrestle their way back to something akin to growth. In the…

Engineered wood products have long been important in the Australian market, but there is no doubt their influence is growing rapidly. Among the most impressive growth has been recorded for s…

Annualised sawn softwood imports lifted 27.6% to total 597,522 m3 year-ended September 2021 as importers and local end-users do all they can to meet the still-surging domestic market. Whil…

Sales of locally produced sawn softwood products dipped in October, falling 26.1% compared with the prior month. At 206,847 m3, sales were toward the very bottom of their long-term monthly r…

Australia’s total housing loans fell for the third successive month in October, dipping 2.5% to $A29.57 billion. The now consistent falls are reflective of the declining approvals with whi…

Despite the lockdowns of the September quarter, the value of building work undertaken hit record levels, with work on houses calculated to be valued at $A39 billion, a rise of 3.1% on the prior…

Demand for new dwellings continues to fall at a reasonably sharp rate. In October, total approvals were 12.9% lower than in September and 8.1% lower than in October 2020. However, with annual…