The 1940′s Housing Shortage
The 1940′s Housing Boom}
Sometimes described in the post-war years as `the housing shortage’, the national effort to fix a very serious issue has in time come to be called `the housing boom’. Undoubtedly it was a boom in demand and building. There was also a marked 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 government housing schemes was at first on rental accommodation; later there was a swing toward the ownership of low-cost dwellings. At a time when various factors had cut the amount of rental houses, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-operatives were offering more opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was paralleled by a jump in building input costs.
High on the list of factors linked to rising costs were the introduction in 1948 of the 40-hour week, and steep increases in the cost of building materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unskilled building worker a higher wage than a tradie had received in early 1946.
To keep both labourer and tradie productively employed the builder needed a continuous flow of materials which was a rare occurrence during this period. A shortage of skilled workers also meant poor quality construction and further loss of time.
Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen contingencies. 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 out of stock, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported Baltic flooring material.
With locally made cement taking forever to turn up, a delivery from across the border was sometimes bought at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices hardwood flooring material had, by 1948, doubled 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 by 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 cost-cutting.
The economical floor plan was essential; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and generous porches disappeared, 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 a mandated state as it was a fashionable philosophy. This was the era of the great Australian Dream.
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