Nine speakers took to the stage at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, including representatives from IAPMO, Standards Australia, AUSWHIP, WELS and the PPI Group to explain changes, innovations and the futures of the industries they represent.

Ben Phillips of Housing Industry Australia (HIA) came with an overview of the current economic conditions and how they impact on the building and housing market.

Since October last year economies have been going backwards.

“We are not technically in recession yet, but most economists agree that we are there,” says Ben.

“Exports have taken a serious hit and it’s tough on the domestic front. Things won’t improve until the global recession turns around. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has seen strong growth for a long time, but is now heading into negative territory.

For things to recover China needs to have positive growth and Japan needs to climb out of the doldrums.”

Ben also made mention that Australia’s big four challenges will be rising unemployment, low consumer and business confidence, a stumbling world economy, fewer exports (for instance not selling as much coal to Japan), lower prices received for those products and a lack of available finance.

In terms of building and housing, the housing industry is spending $6.4 billion funding construction of 20,000 new public and community housing dwellings. $400 million will go to repairs of existing housing and there will be a boost of $2.7 billion in ceiling installation and $2.5 billion for trades training in schools.

Building approvals for new homes have dropped significantly, with numbers shrinking in the March quarter by 25%. A slight rise is predicted for the coming months.

The most notable point for the construction industry is that there is an underlying demand for new homes, with the housing shortage at about 50,000 and threatening to rise. This needs to correct itself. 1.9 million homes need to be built in the next ten years to meet demand.

Holding the industry up is the renovation market, but in the current climate not everybody is receiving a bank loan or approval. Although the outlook is a little bleak, improvements are forecast for this industry as the government spends up to $32 million to fuel the sector.