Billions of dollars of pandemic savings are being ploughed back into homes, which is leading to a tradie and materials shortage and forcing up prices.
Skilled bricklayers, gyprockers and joiners are all proving hard to find.
“It could take a few months longer to get a good tradie and prices are going up as well,” Horizon Managing Director David Moses told 9News.
A billion dollars is being spent on home renovations around Australia every month, and while people are stripping their homes, materials are also becoming a hot commodity, with demand outstripping supply.
“Very hard to buy timber, steel, bricks and concrete – a lot of the base building products are in short supply and going up in price,” Mr Moses said.
Many Sydneysiders who spent last year working from home are now working on their homes, with international travel still off the cards, like Liam Allen.
Instead of heading overseas, he’s renovating his bathroom.
“(It’s a) complete gut, it’s an old house so we have to take it back to the bare bones,” he said.
“Much prefer to be on an airplane going somewhere warm this time of year… over to Europe… (but) a new toilet will do.”
A booming property market and a shortage of stock is also driving demand.
“A lot of people are finding it more economical to do the renovations themselves and upgrade their house – rather than selling and trying to find a bigger home,” Sally Tindall from RateCity told 9News.
More than one in three homeowners are expecting to carry out home improvements this year.
About 40 per cent of those are spending between $5000 and $25,000, 11 per cent between $100,000 and $300,000.
The boom is fuelled by billions in pandemic savings – with 22 percent of people diverting money meant for a holiday into renovations.
This content first appear on 9news