Australia's Home Building Costs Soar Due to War

0:00Building a new home in Australia could cost a lot more by 2026, thanks to skyrocketing fuel prices from the war in the Middle East. Suppliers of key materials like sand, concrete, and pipes are now adding emergency fuel levees to cover their higher trucking costs. This is hitting the residential construction industry hard, with warnings of worsening supply chain disruptions. Builders report price jumps on almost everything that needs to be freighted to sites, from bricks to roof flashings. These are introducing surcharges right away, sometimes adding over 5% to the cost of a single load. Fixed price contracts mean many builders have to eat these extras for now, squeezing their profits. Industry leaders compare the chaos to the early days of COVID, when global supply shocks drove up home building costs by 35.4%. Percent since late 2019, a national construction cost index is expected to reflect these new hikes starting in the second quarter of this year. The pipe sector faces the biggest headaches, with Asia manufacturers declaring forced

1:03measure on petrochemical supplies, leading to 40%. Jumps in resin prices and potential shortages. Builders are scrambling for alternatives, even paying 10 times more for European freight. Government officials are monitoring the fallout closely, meeting with industry heads to tackle these pressures. As the war drags on, this supply crunch threatens the push to deliver 1.2 million new homes over 5 years, making the target even tougher to hit. I'm Corey with the story, that's your Sydney News Today update, AI powered and always on.