Farmers find new ways for housing, as supply and cost hurts confidence

A recent Procore/Property Council survey showed Victorians' confidence in the property industry had fallen, and Victoria was the only state with a drop in confidence.

The survey's 508 Property Council members found industry confidence increased, with the index rising by six points to 120, with 100 being neutral.

Victoria was below the national average, after its number dropped to 104 points.

Pelican Rise stud principal and CMTP owner Chris Meade has a background as a registered builder and has looked at alternative ways to bring in additional housing.

His business is now offering modular housing, built on-site at their factory in Colac, which is also home to major employers including Australian Lamb Co, AKD, and Bulla Dairy Foods.

"We've done it for worker housing both in rural areas and in our town," he said.

"We've had plenty of interest over the years about people saying they don't have accommodation for employees and need accommodation on a seasonal basis, whether it be potato or grain harvests."

He said before the new business venture, they had bought properties to help alleviate worker housing.

"To me, it's a common-sense approach," Mr Meade said.

"My view in the building industry is too much cost goes into building houses where workers drive to and from sites.

"If you can build the house in a factory and you've got the facilities there, you're only doing a couple of days on site."

He said modular homes offered a lower-cost alternative while maintaining higher quality.

He said sourcing materials had improved, after clients and customers were "beaten around" in the pandemic period when the cost of materials rose.

"I'm concerned for young people now, they can't afford to lend a million dollars to buy a house," Mr Meade said.

"They're getting really good quality at a lower cost, because we're not paying out the costs associated with building on site.

"They're quite standard in terms of size, they can be used as either granny flats or rural farm accommodation."

He said he had already had interest from farmers looking at purchasing for worker accommodation.

Mr Meade said they had planned to build a purpose-built factory within a couple of years.

"There is a shortage of accommodation options, and what's available is reasonably expensive," he said.

"We have backpackers coming in and staying at camping grounds, and they need accommodation."

Property Council of Australia policy and advocacy group executive Matthew Kandelaars said the "persistent issue" of housing supply and affordability remained a significant concern.

"We see in the survey that high expectations around housing price growth are being driven by a dire undersupply of housing across Australia," he said.

"Participants have said housing supply and affordability is the main concern for the federal and state governments at historically elevated levels since March 2021.

"This simply cannot continue."

He said governments needed to back the national housing target or encourage investment into the property sector.

"As long predicted, a history of almost-quarterly tax and regulatory changes has dented long-term confidence, which is a story consistent across domestic and international investors," he said.

"The message is simple; the ambitions in the Victorian Government's Housing Statement rely on stable tax and planning settings, and the confidence of industry to invest."

The survey also showed expectations on housing price growth rose to 43 index points, compared to the historical average of 12.