On Thursday 13 April, RCP welcomed ANZ’s Senior Economist, Felicity Emmett, Jen Williams Queensland Executive Director, Property Council of Australia, and a group of Brisbane’s senior property leaders to a boardroom lunch, hosted by RCP’s Managing Director, Russell Martoo and RCP Directors Greg Atkinson and James Goodson.
The lunch examined the results of the ANZ/Property Council Survey for the March 2023 quarter and the current challenges facing the property industry.
RCP Managing Director, Russell Martoo commented, “The key finding of the latest survey of 771 property professionals, revealed that housing supply and affordability was top of mind for respondents, with 41 per cent selecting it as a critical issue.”
“While this is not surprising given preceding surveys, what is surprising, is the results showing the property sector has scaled back its expectations on staffing levels, despite job vacancies running high. However, with broader business surveys identifying labour availability as the major constraint on output, it is evident that the property industry will also be constrained by staffing availability,” said Russell.
Selected Results Summary
The first survey of Property Council members for the year revealed industry confidence remained steady, with the Confidence Index remaining at 113 index points. A score of 100 in the Confidence Index is considered neutral.
Future staffing expectations remained positive across the country (15) but fell in all markets except South Australia and Western Australia.
Forward work expectations remained positive in every state and territory over the quarter, with an average of 29.4 across the country with Western Australia (37.8) and New South Wales (36.4) returning the strongest figures. A score of 0 is considered neutral.
The construction activity expectations remained steady across most sectors, with a slight increase in the retirement and hotel sectors from the last quarter results.
Residential construction is still feeling the effects of the lack of resources due to high demand and continued interest rate rises.
To view full details of the latest ANZ/PCA survey results, please visit the Property Council of Australia.