The June quarter Master Builders National Survey of Building and Construction has seen builder sentiment drop back after improving in the March quarter.
The survey of more than 450 builders and contractors across the country reportedly saw business conditions and business confidence take a step backwards, a result that Master Builders has described as ‘disappointing’.
Peter Jones, Master Builders Australia's Chief Economist said there has been no tangible recovery in the building and construction industry despite interest rate cuts and early signs of improvement in some Australian Bureau of Statistics indicators.
"The survey reveals an industry bouncing around the bottom and at best indicates that business conditions may have troughed,” said Mr Jones.
"The big question for builders is the timing of a substantive upturn. Promised improvement down the track does not help pay the bills in the here and now and is putting many businesses at risk.”
Mr Jones did highlight the survey results for display centre traffic and enquiries, which fell back in the June quarter but are still trending upwards after a sharp rise in March.
"As a key forward indicator, a pick-up in display centre and enquiries is a hopeful signal that the market is slowly responding to lower interest rates and that the worst may be behind the industry.”
"To accelerate the move to a sustained upturn in the industry, the Reserve Bank must retain its bias towards lower interest rates.”
"The next Federal Government must also implement policies that help restore business and investor confidence which seems to be the missing ingredient at the moment," Mr Jones said.
