The 1940′s Housing Boom
The Post-War Housing Shortage}
Sometimes described in the post-war years as `the housing shortage’, the nationwide effort to address a very serious issue has in time come to be called `the housing boom’. Without a doubt it was a boom in demand and activity. There was also a notable increase in house ownership, achieved in many cases through dogged individual effort and years of sacrifice.
Changing social attitudes offered new opportunities, but also reduced the choices. Emphasis in state housing plans was at first on rental dwellings; later there was a swing toward the sale of low-cost houses. At a time when various factors had cut the amount of rental dwellings, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-operatives were offering more opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was at a time of a rise in constuction costs.
High on the list of factors linked to rising construction costs were the introduction in 1948 of the 40-hour week, and marked increases in the cost of construction materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unqualified building worker a higher salary than a tradesperson had received in early 1946.
To keep both labourer and tradie economically employed the builder needed a continuous flow of materials which was a rare occurrence during this period. Lack of skilled workers also meant poor quality building and a blow out in construction time.
Contract prices were loaded with an increasing profit margin as an insurance against unseen circumstances. 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 salaries to ensure house completion.
Unexpected costs could arise when, for example, hardwood flooring was suddenly out of stock, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported Baltic flooring.
With local cement taking forever to turn up, a truckload from interstate was sometimes purchased at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices timber flooring had, by 1948, increased 100 per cent in value. Cement had risen by almost 20 per cent and terracotta 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 dwelling to 1200 square feet (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 design modesty.
The economical plan was necessary; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and wide open porches disappeared, reducing the shade at the front entrance to a minimum area. Ceiling heights had been slowly 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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