The continued surge in building industry insolvencies is showing no signs of abating and widespread hopes, or even expectations, that construction costs will fall and come to the rescue appear overly optimistic.
In the first seven months of this financial year, 1,999 construction firms were declared insolvent. This was 26 per cent higher than the same period in 2023-24 (1,583) and 69 per cent higher than 2022-23 (1,182).
Much of this has been blamed on high construction costs and a lack of skilled labour to do the actual work of building much needed new homes.
Neither causal factor looks like going away, suggesting the onslaught of building company failures would continue deep into 2025.
Construction cost…