The Post-War Housing Boom
Often described in the post-war years as `the housing shortage’, the national effort to address a very troubling issue has in time 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 dogged individual effort and years of sacrifice.
Changing social attitudes offered new opportunities, but also reduced the options. Emphasis in state housing schemes was at first on rental dwellings; later there was a swing toward the ownership of budget dwellings. At a time when various influencers had cut the availability of rental dwellings, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-ops were offering a wider range of opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was at a time of a jump in construction costs.
High on the list of factors linked to rising costs were the passing of legislation for the 40-hour working week, and steep increases in the cost of construction materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unskilled building worker a higher wage than a tradesperson 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 work and a blow out in construction time.
Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen problems. 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 rates to ensure building completion.
Unexpected costs could happen when, for example, hardwood flooring was suddenly unprocurable, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported Baltic flooring material.
With local cement taking forever to turn up, a batch from interstate was sometimes contracted at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices timber flooring had, by 1948, increased 100 per cent in price. Cement had risen by almost 20 per cent and clay 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 house to 12 squares (111.48 square metres) for a timber house and 1250 square feet (116.12 square metres) for one in brick, completed the recipe for an imposed economy.
The economical floor plan was essential; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and generous porches were deleted, reducing the shelter at the front entrance 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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