Australians are following the lead of chocolate and chip manufacturers, using shrinkflation to deal with the spiralling cost of building a new home. Instead of super-sized ovens or high-tend tax mixers, people are building slightly smaller kitchens and bathrooms and installing cheaper whitegoods or more affordable fittings. Shrinkflation has come to kitchen and bathroom renovations as people try to deal with soaring construction costs.
Credit: Neil Newitt And, after one of the longest run-up in construction costs in decades, there are now signs builders are finally cutting their overall prices, with discounts of up to $20,000 on new homes in Sydney and Melbourne to get prospective buyers into a new property. The soaring cost of home construction has been one of the key drivers of inflation over the past two years. New home prices jumped by a third in both Sydney and Melbourne.
The single largest expense in a new home is timber, board and joinery, accounting for 33.5 per cent of the total sticker price. The cost of timber windows alone has soared by 65 per cent since the end of 2019.
Timber doors are 50 per cent dearer, while structural timber is 40.1 per cent more expensive. The second-largest component of a home build is metal products, accounting for almost 18 per cent of the total cost.
Copper pipes and fittings have become 51.5 per cent more expensive since 2019 while prices for metal garage doors have lifted by more than 45 per cent. Housing Industry Association chief ec.