The financial challenges faced by the residential construction industry were addressed earlier this week (July 24) at a meeting headed by the Housing Industry Association (HIA) at Parliament House in Canberra.
HIA managing director Shane Goodwin said: "Residential construction is experiencing its second recession in four years.
"There are 20,000 fewer homes being built per annum than what has been the average for the last 20 years, which represents thousands of employees and contractors that won't have work and millions of dollars in materials and related services that won’t be purchased."
Mr Goodwin said the industry needed some support and policy changes at state, territory and federal government levels to help to solve some of the continuing issues arising in the industry.
"The research demonstrates that for every dollar spent in the residential building industry, there is a significant flow on to the rest of the economy," Mr Goodwin said.
Key members of the residential construction industry from chief executives to home builder manufacturers were in attendance at the meeting.
Research conducted by the Centre for International Economics on behalf of HIA, showed there is a correlation between the residential housing industry and the economy.
Mr Goodwin said: "The residential building industry is directly worth $70 billion to the Australian economy and is responsible for putting over 350,000 people into a new home each year."
