Cost of civil works surges due to labour shortages, material charges
Rising construction costs in Brisbane have put pressure on house prices and the situation could get worse before it gets better.
Costs cover everything that needs to be done on a block of land before construction begins, including connecting utilities such as sewage and electricity, laying roads, completing earthworks and paying government fees.
New data reveals the cost of completing these invisible but necessary steps rises to $180,230 for the average block of land in south-east Queensland.
The average cost of preparing a block to build a house in south-east Queensland has increased by nearly 80 per cent since the pandemic. Credit: Nine News
This represents an increase of nearly 80 percent since the pandemic and a 7.7 percent increase from just 12 months ago, when the average cost was $167,365.
“What we’re really seeing here is a matter of supply and demand,” said Dan Collins, the Colliers executive who compiled the data.
“The COVID bubble has had a really significant impact on things.
“There was an infrastructure boom and there was such a shortage of resources and labor that prices skyrocketed.
“At the same time, there was a shortage of supply: concrete costs, asphalt costs, all of these were increasing because demand was skyrocketing.”
Colliers’ new report says the average cost of construction work across Brisbane is estimated at $215,000 to $200,000, compared to just $140,330 in Logan Reserve and Park Ridge.
