The 1940’s Housing Boom}

Sometimes described in the post WWII years as `the housing shortage’, the national effort to fix a very troubling issue has over the years come to be called `the housing boom’. Without a doubt 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 choices. Emphasis in government housing plans was at first on rental accommodation; later there was a swing toward the sale of low-cost dwellings. At a time when various influencers had reduced the availability of rental dwellings, governments, banks, finance companies, building societies and housing co-ops were offering more opportunities for home ownership. Ironically this was paralleled by a jump in building input costs.

Top on the list of factors linked to rising costs were the passing of legislation for the 40-hour working week, and drastic increases in the cost of construction materials. By 1948 an employer had to pay an unskilled building labourer a higher salary 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. Lack 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 wages to ensure house completion.

Unexpected costs could arise when, for example, timber flooring was suddenly out of stock, and a higher price would then have to be paid for imported flooring.

With locally made cement taking forever to turn up, a batch from across the border was sometimes bought at nearly three times the price. When compared to 1939 prices timber flooring material 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 austerity.

The economical plan was necessary; cost-saving and limitations on area made large single-purpose rooms a luxury. Verandahs and wide open porches were deleted, reducing the shade at the front of the house to the absolute minimum. Ceiling heights had been slowly reduced from the turn of the century and were now usually 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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