The Post-War Housing Shortage
Saturday, October 31st, 2009The 1940’s Housing Boom}
Often described in the post-war years as `the housing shortage’, the Australian effort to fix a very serious issue has over the years come to be called `the housing boom’. Undoubtedly it was a boom in demand and building. There was also a notable increase in home ownership, achieved in many cases through heroic individual effort and years of sacrifice.
Changing social attitudes offered new opportunities, but also narrowed the choices. Emphasis in government housing social engineering was at first on rental dwellings; later there was a swing toward the ownership of low-cost housing. At a time when various influencers had reduced the availability of rental dwellings, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-operatives were offering more opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was at a time of a rise in building costs.
Top on the list of factors linked to rising construction costs were the introduction in 1948 of the 40-hour working week, and drastic increases in the cost of building materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unqualified building labourer a higher wage than a tradie had received in early 1946.
To keep both labourer and tradie rationally employed the builder needed a continuous flow of materials which was a rare occurrence in those times. A shortage of skilled workers also meant lower quality construction and further loss of time.
Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen circumstances. Under commonwealth price control, builders were entitled to a 10 per cent `profit’ on the contract price. Above award payments were not recognised in price control and yet builders often found a need to pay above award wages to ensure house completion.
Unexpected costs could arise when, for example, hardwood flooring was suddenly unprocurable, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported flooring.
With locally made cement taking forever to turn up, a delivery from interstate was sometimes bought at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices timber flooring had, by 1948, doubled in value. Cement had risen by almost 20 per cent and terracotta roofing tiles by more than 25 per cent. A gallon of first-grade paint costing around 30s ($3) in 1939 had risen at least 40 per cent by 1948.
When added to rising costs and shortages of materials the government restrictions, limiting the area of a new dwelling to 12 squares (111.48 square metres) for a timber house and 1250 square feet (116.12 square metres) for a brick house, completed the recipe for an imposed design modesty.
The economical floor plan was necessary; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and generous porches disappeared, reducing the shelter at the front of the house to a minimum area. Ceiling heights had been gradually reduced from the turn of the century and were now typically nine feet (2745 mm). Until the government construction restrictions were lifted in 1952 the acceptance of no-nonsense functionalism was as much an imposed state as it was a fashionable philosophy. This was the era of the great Australian Dream.
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