The Queensland Government has launched an inquiry to improve home building productivity amid growing demand and supply challenges. The initiative seeks to identify systemic barriers and accelerate housing delivery across the state.
Like thousands of Queensland families, they’ve watched prices climb while new housing supply struggles to keep pace with demand. Their frustration echoes across the state, where construction costs and lengthy building times have created a housing crisis affecting everyone from young couples to growing families.
The Queensland government has responded with decisive action. In April 2025, they launched a landmark inquiry into construction sector productivity, appointing the Queensland Productivity Commission to examine what’s broken in the state’s building industry and how to fix it.
The Scale of the Challenge
The numbers tell a sobering story. Australian home building productivity has plummeted over three decades. Physical productivity, measuring the total number of houses built per hour worked, has more than halved since 1995. Even when accounting for larger, higher-quality homes, labour productivity has declined by 12 percent.
Local builders across Queensland report similar challenges.Brooklyn Homes, which specialises in quality residential construction, has observed firsthand how regulatory complexities and approval delays impact project timelines and costs for families seeking new homes.
What the Inquiry Will Examine
The Queensland Productivity Commission, led by newly appointed Commissioner Angela Moody, has six months to investigate core issues hampering construction efficiency. The inquiry focuses on several critical areas that directly impact housing affordability and availability.
Regulatory barriers top the list. Builders across Queensland report that red tape and outdated regulations stall projects and drive up costs. Minister for Housing and Public Works Sam O’Connor notes: “We’ve heard loud and clear from builders that the current system isn’t working for builders and it’s certainly not working for the tens of thousands of Queenslanders waiting for a place to call home.”
The commission will also examine Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPIC), workplace arrangements that apply to government projects over $100 million. These conditions, which include provisions like double time payments during rain and the right to stop work at 35 degrees, were suspended in January pending the inquiry’s findings.
Adoption of innovation is another major obstacle. Home construction is still largely dependent on labor-intensive, traditional processes, although other industries have embraced automation and digital efficiencies. The investigation will look into the obstacles keeping innovative construction methods, like modular homes, from becoming widely used.
Inefficiencies are also caused by workforce migration across state lines. The industry’s capacity to deploy knowledge where it is most urgently required is limited by inconsistent occupational licensing rules, which make it difficult for qualified individuals to move between projects in various states.
Real Impact on Queensland Families
These issues with productivity have very severe repercussions for people that are waiting to build or purchase. Delays in construction increase the uncertainty surrounding move-in dates, which has an impact on everything from rental agreements to school enrollment. Budgets already strained by inflation and rising interest rates are further strained by cost hikes.
It is impossible to overstate the emotional toll. While young individuals put off important life decisions because of housing instability, parents worry about giving their kids stable housing. These individual effects highlight the significance of the investigation’s findings beyond business data.
For Queensland, which has aggressive housing goals under the National Housing Accord, the timing is especially important. By 2029, the state has to boost the number of new homes it produces from the current 35,000 per year to 50,000, or 247,000 additional residences. In the absence of productivity gains, these goals remain aspirational rather than attainable.
The urgency is increased by Brisbane’s preparations for the 2032 Olympics. If productivity gains don’t materialise, infrastructure projects will compete with residential construction for skilled labor and resources, which might make already difficult problems worse.
Industry Perspectives and Solutions
- Simplified approval procedures that lessen uncertainty about the project timeframe
- To increase workforce mobility, states should implement uniform occupational licensing.
- Investing in training and building technologies to increase productivity
- Governmental levels working together to resolve regulatory conflicts
These worries are shared by Master Builders Queensland, which emphasises how disjointed procedures and varying specifications lead to inefficiencies that eventually raise expenses for households. The complicated regulatory standards that larger organisations may more readily handle are especially difficult for small building companies, which often employ fewer than two workers.
Well-known builders like Brooklyn Homes stress that although high standards of quality must be maintained, expedited procedures might drastically shorten the period between buying land and moving in, giving families access to homes sooner without sacrificing craftsmanship or safety.
Innovation and Technology Opportunities
When it comes to using productivity-boosting innovations, the construction sector lags well behind other industries. Building sites frequently function largely as they did decades ago, despite the fact that industries and services have embraced automation and digital procedures.
One possible approach to increasing the efficiency of home construction is modular housing. Factory-built parts can enhance quality control and shorten the time needed for on-site construction. Despite success in other nations, adoption in Australia has been constrained by industry resistance and government obstacles.
Project management software and digital planning tools provide even more efficiency. These technologies can speed up decision-making procedures that now create delays, increase trade coordination, and decrease errors. For example, before building starts, architects, engineers, and builders can anticipate possible conflicts using Building Information Modelling (BIM) technologies.
Additionally, prefabrication methods hold promise for resolving labor shortages without sacrificing quality. Precision can be increased and weather-related delays can be minimised with components made in controlled conditions, but regulatory frameworks must be updated to support these techniques.
Skills Development and Workforce Challenges
The investigation will also look at the need for workforce development. With many seasoned craftspeople nearing retirement, Queensland’s building industry is dealing with an aging workforce. Addressing perceptions of job stability and progression prospects is necessary to draw in younger employees.
In order to integrate new technology and construction techniques, apprenticeship programs must be expanded and updated. Future construction practices will be defined by the rising digital competences that training institutions must balance with traditional skills.
Attracting and keeping competent people is particularly difficult in regional areas. Workers are driven out by the high cost of housing in large cities, while development choices are constrained in remote places by inadequate infrastructure.
The Path Forward
To the challenge, Commissioner Angela Moody contributes a wealth of experience in regulatory reform and policy creation. Her selection demonstrates the government’s preference for long-term fixes over band-aid fixes.
Given the six-month duration of the investigation, initial results should be available by the end of 2025, and implementation may start in 2026. Given Queensland’s ongoing population growth, this timing is in line with the pressing need to speed up the supply of dwellings.
One important step in the process is public consultation. The commission welcomes responses from impacted families, consumer advocacy organisations, and industry players. This inclusive approach acknowledges that industry representatives are not the only stakeholders who must contribute to sustainable solutions.
Looking Ahead: Hope for Housing
The wider ramifications affect Queensland’s economic competitiveness in addition to specific families. Effective construction industries promote community development, infrastructure for tourists, and commercial investment. On the other hand, issues with productivity limit growth and raise living expenses throughout the economy.
Given that other states face comparable difficulties, the conclusions of the investigation are probably going to have an impact on policy approaches throughout Australia. Queensland may set an example for national housing reform if it is prepared to look at basic industry arrangements.
As the commission gets started, the emphasis is still on workable solutions that support a sustainable building sector and give families access to affordable homes. Although the stakes are high, there is also a chance for revolutionary change that will benefit builders and the communities they serve.